‘tWitch’ Boss’s Family Push Back Against His Widow’s Claims – The Cut

Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commissionThe mother and brother of Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the DJ and dancer who died by suicide in 2022, spoke out for the first time on CBS Mornings following the release of a controversial tell-all published by his widow, Allison Holker.In the interview, Boss’s mother, Connie Alexander, and his brother Dre Rose refuted allegations made in Holker’s memoir, This Far: My Story of Love, Loss and Embracing the Light, published on February 4, that Boss had struggled with substance abuse. In her book, Holker wrote that she found a “cornucopia” of drugs, including “mushrooms, pills and other substances,” stashed in a shoebox after her husband’s death.Alexander told interviewer Gayle King that Holker’s claims came as a complete shock to them and that she was blindsided by the revelations in Holker’s memoir. “I’m not saying my son was perfect. I do believe he had experiences where he tried this, that, and the other,” Alexander told King. “But I don’t believe there was that type of issue, that type of problem.” She accused Holker of “denigrating the memory and the legacy” her son built.Boss’s younger brother Dre Rose also questioned Holker’s claims. “I knew that recreationally, he had used or tried things. That wasn’t a shock to me,” he said. “This ‘cornucopia’ of drugs that had to be Googled — we don’t know anything to be true.” If the allegations were true, he said, he wished Holker had discussed it with the family prior to publishing it in her book.A co-executive producer on The Ellen Degeneres Show and one of the stars of So You Think You Can Dance, Boss died by suicide in December 2022, leaving behind Holker, his wife of nine years, and their three children.Holker’s public battles with the Boss family started January 7, when she appeared on the cover of People magazine to promote her memoir. In the interview, Holker alleged that she found evidence of her husband’s drug addiction prior to his funeral. She also said she found her husband’s private journals after his death, in which he had revealed that he was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.Following the People interview, multiple friends and family members of Boss publicly refuted these allegations, taking to social media to accuse Holker of exploiting her husband’s death to promote her book. “Our family is absolutely appalled by the misleading and hurtful claims made about my son, Stephen Boss,” Alexander said in an Instagram statement on January 9, which was also posted by Rose and other family members. “The recent publications spreading untruths about Stephen have crossed every line of decency. As his mother, I will not let these accusations go unanswered.”In the CBS Mornings interview, both Rose and Alexander denied any knowledge of Boss’s alleged struggles with drug addiction or a history of childhood sexual abuse. Rose noted that in his private conversations with his brother, he had said nothing about substance abuse or childhood trauma, but had shared that he was struggling with “impostor syndrome” and feelings of insecurity. Rose said Boss told him when he tried to share such issues with Holker, he said he had felt “silenced.”“To use my brother’s name and make it seem like he had this serious addiction problem and this sexual-abuse allegation — that could have been true, but I don’t think that’s the reason why my brother isn’t here,” Rose told King. When pressed by King as to why he believed his brother took his own life, Rose responded, “that’s a question for Allison.”In the interview, Boss’s mother and brother also accused Holker of asking the family to sign nondisclosure agreements to attend the funeral. “To make me sign a document to see the child that I brought into the world — I can’t even put it into words what that feels like,” Alexander told King. Rose agreed, saying, “the NDA made my brother and his life and his experiences pretty much intellectual property.” (In her book, Holker says she asked the family to sign the nondisclosure agreements due to her concerns about photographs of Boss’s body leaking to the press.)Rose also said that he does not believe Holker has showed “any accountability” regarding the pain she has caused the Boss family. “There have been many messages and phone calls that have been left unread and not acknowledged,” he told King.In a statement to CBS Mornings, Holker did not address the Boss family’s specific allegations, but said that Alexander “has and will continue to be” a loving and stable presence in her grandchildren’s lives. “We hope to continue these traditions over the years and work together to keep Stephen’s memory alive,” she said.In the U.S., the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 988 (call or text) or 988lifeline.org (chat). By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission

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