Derek Hough Breaks Down in Tears While Remembering Friend Who Died by Suicide Weeks Before Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss’ Death

usmagazine.com:

Derek Hough has shared a poignant message regarding mental health and suicide.“I was actually going to make this video a couple weeks ago because I found out a man I knew died by suicide on Thanksgiving morning, and it was a complete shock because he was the most positive, just optimistic, beautiful man you could ever imagine, and it was jolting to say the least,” the Dancing With the Stars judge, 37, said in an emotional Friday, December 16, Instagram video. “But it was a harsh reminder of this time of year and of depression, of seasonal depression and just circumstances and the time of year when people feel like it’s too much.”After privately mourning the loss of his friend, Hough decided to revisit his social media video plans after learning that fellow professional dancer Stephen “tWitch” Boss died by suicide on Tuesday, December 14. (The So You Think You Can Dance alum is survived by wife Allison Holker and their three kids: 16-year-old Weslie, Holker’s daughter from a previous relationship whom Boss adopted, 6-year-old son Maddox and 3-year-old daughter Zaia.)“The fact that [tWitch] went the exact same way as this man within a few weeks, it’s just heartbreaking, confusing, shocking,” Hough — who worked with Boss when the DJ was a guest judge on World of Dance — said. “There’s so many different feelings and I’m trying to figure it out.

I just want to express and just to say for anybody out there who is feeling these thoughts and these feelings, please, please I beg you — I beg you, give people an opportunity to be there for you.”After learning of Boss’ death, Hough shared an emotional Instagram tribute on Wednesday, December 14.