Allison Holker’s daughter is defending her family against the backlash surrounding her new book, which details Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss’ alleged drug addiction.
Weslie Renae, 16, took to Instagram Friday to address the hate she and her mother have been getting and to reveal the reason behind the NDAs at her stepdad’s funeral two years ago after he died by suicide.
“My stepdad’s been gone for two years and I’m still getting hate comments … it’s just complicated and for no reason, because this is not just a social media gig, this is literally my life,” Weslie said in an Instagram Live.
She added that she’s “sick of getting hate comments and seeing my mom get hate for literally losing the person that she loves.”
The teenager went on to explain that Boss, who was just 40 years old when he was found in a hotel room, was the “person I would cry to. He’d wake me up every morning, we’d get breakfast. He’s the person that I would see when he came home from work with. We lived in the same four walls and now I’m getting hate for him leaving, and I don’t get it. It’s hurtful.”
Weslie said she gets a lot of hate because the pro dancer was not her biological father, though the couple wed in 2013 when she was a young girl.
“He never made me feel like anything besides his daughter,” she continued. “I just think it speaks for who he was and nobody’s sitting up here trying to bash him. He was a good person.”
Holker, 36, came under attack last week when her new memoir, “This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light,” revealed that shortly after his death she allegedly discovered a shoe box filled with “various” substances, including mushrooms.
Boss’ mom slammed Holker, calling her claims “misleading and hurtful” for the family and they will “not stand by while his name and legacy are tarnished.”
Several family members and friends of the former “Ellen DeGeneres Show” DJ/dancer echoed his mother’s comments and even said Holker had made them sign an NDA to attend the funeral.
According to Weslie, her mom asked people to sign the NDAs because they had an open casket viewing.
“God forbid somebody that went to that took a photo of Stephen and put it on the internet or shared it with somebody else — that’s the type of things that NDAs are for,” she said, defending her mom’s decision.
“It’s not so you can never talk about Stephen, you can’t ever talk about you grieving him, you can’t post about it. That’s not what it is. And for all the people saying it, I just feel like you’re uneducated,” she said, adding that she’s “grateful” Holker made people sign them.
Weslie continued, “But also regardless, some people didn’t even sign the NDAs and my mom was lenient because she understands at the end of the day, this is family, so you all want to disrespect her and she’s still nice, she’s still kind, she’s still forgiving.”
“My mom gets called a murderer. They say that she’s money hungry. They say that she needs more fame. That’s not how my mom is,” she explained. “Trust me when I say my mom is good, she doesn’t need that.”
She ended her lengthy video reiterating that people should be kinder, especially since her younger siblings — Maddox, 8, and Zaia, 5 — will grow up reading all the comments about their mother and father.
“My relationship with Stephen is irreplaceable. And that’s just how I see it,” she concluded.
Holker defended herself against the backlash earlier this week, writing in a statement that she believed Boss would want his story told.
“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,” she wrote.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
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