Stephen “tWitch” Boss always had a smile on his face. But that energetic, cheerful vibe didn’t always come naturally to him.
On the May 29 episode of Taylor Lautner and wife Tay Lautner’s podcast, Grip, Allison Holker Boss opened up about the differences between her husband, who she said she only knows as Stephen, and tWitch, a well-known dancer and TV personality. They are “two different people,” she said.
“He carried this tWitch persona and it became part of who he was, but that extroverted personality didn’t come naturally to him,” shared Allison, 36. “So if he went out as tWitch and made sure he spread all that love , joy and positivity and all the time dancing for people, entertainer and such, it would drain his energy.”
Stephen would “have to come home” and do some kind of reset, Allison said — something he shared only with her and her oldest daughter, Weslie, 16. “Our home was a safe place. So he would come home and have to really recharge your battery.”
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The dancer, who died by suicide in December 2022, “showered people love,” Allison said, but in the year and a half since his death, she’s come to see it in a different light.
“I think there’s something deeper now that I’ve never seen before,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder if, if he got so much love, he almost didn’t think he deserved it, so he’d give it right back. That’s why he was such a giver.”
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Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker pose in the IMDb Exclusive Portrait Studio at The Critics Choice Association’s 5th Annual Black Cinema & Television Celebration at Fairmont Century Plaza on December 5, 2022.
Michael Rowe/Getty
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As she continues to struggle with her grief, Allison — who is also mom to Maddox, 8, and Zaia, 4 — told PEOPLE that being “vulnerable around” her children has been an important part of her recovery.
“I want my kids to feel so safe and comfortable with me that no matter what they feel, no matter how scary it is, how big it is, how small it is, nothing is off the table, and I just want them to feel like to get it off my chest,” she said
“I’m still on this journey with them. Because I think as a parent we always want to know or look like we have the answers. And now at this point in my life, sometimes I say, ‘I don’t know, but I’ll definitely try to figure it out with you,'” she continued. “We’re all in this together, and it doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are, we’re all on these life journeys, we’re all students of life and we just have to work together, communicate and support each other through it.”
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She also started letting her children see her cry, which they hadn’t “really seen” before.
“I just realized that it’s really important to let them see those moments. Crying from joy, crying from pain, crying from sadness, all different kinds of emotions that come with those things, letting them be a part of it with me.”
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Source: HIS Education