explained her intention behind including personal details about late husband in her upcoming memoir.
“To fans of Stephen and our family and friends, I want to be clear that my only intention in writing the book is to share my own story as well as part of my life with Stephen to help other people,” Holker, 36, wrote via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, January 8. “Just like you, I never really knew what happened, and even as I am trying to put the pieces together I will never really know.”
Holker shared that for the people who decide to pick up the book, titled This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light, she hopes they’ll be able to she intended to “celebrate the love and life” she and Boss had with their three children: daughters Wesley Renae and Zaia and son Maddox. (Boss died in December 2020 by suicide. He was 40 years old.)
“I hope that by sharing our full story maybe I can help someone else who might see themselves or a loved one in Stephen,” Holker continued. “In sharing I hope that maybe they can catch some of the red flags that I missed before it’s too late.”
While writing the book, Holker shared that she’s spoken to multiple mental health nonprofits for the past “two years” to make sure she was able to write truthfully and accurately depict the tough subject matter. She also plans on giving the profits from the novel to the foundation she set up in Boss’ memory.
“My hope is that that we won’t need to lose another husband, brother, father, or friend to suicide,” she said “I believe that if Stephen were able to choose, he would choose to have his story told if it meant saving even one life. Much love to all those who have supported our family these many years.”
Earlier this week, Holker received backlash online after she revealed details from Boss’ life he never discussed publicly prior to his passing. Holker also confessed that she read Boss’ journals in an attempt to find closure after his death.
“Reading Stephen’s journals, and even going back into the books he had read and the things that he was highlighting and lining, really gave me a better perspective of where he was in life and the type of things he was struggling with,” she said in an interview with People on Tuesday, January 7. ”It did have me feel a lot of empathy towards him and sadness for all the pain that he was holding.”
Many of Boss’ family members and friends publicly slammed Holker after the article went live.
“Anyone who knows me, knows I go straight to the source during a conflict and handle my business,” , who appeared on So You Think You Can Dance alongside Holker, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday. “But since there’s clearly no shame in being so public, I haven’t said a word in two years but here I go. This is by far the most tacky, classless, opportunistic act I have ever seen in my entire life.”
