Allison Holker and her daughter Weslie appeared at the annual National Alliance of Mental Illness Westside Los Angeles (NAMI WLA) Mental Health Gala in West Hollywood on Friday, per People.
Following the death of Holker’s husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, who died by suicide last December, Holker accepted the NAMI WLA Heart of a Champion Award in honor of Stephen and their family’s commitment to spreading awareness on mental health.
This marked Holker’s first public appearance since Boss’ death.
After accepting the award, Allison gave a speech, where she started, “Thank you Derek [Hough] and Jenna [Dewan] for coming out and helping to present this award for our family and our beloved Stephen. I call him Stephen, you call him Stephen and tWitch, and we love him for being both.”
“Thank you to NAMI West LA for this incredible honor,” she continued. “We promise to continue to move from love and joy forever and always, and to continue to inspire and lead and to teach and to grow.”
One of the ways Holker and her children – Welsie, Maddox, and Zaia – have contributed to giving back and spreading awareness on mental health is through their charity, the Move With Kindness Foundation (MWK), which they created shortly after Boss had passed away.
NAMI WLA also has a program for spreading awareness called the Hearts+Minds Program, and they announced on Friday that they would be partnering up with MWK to help battle mental illnesses and to educate people on how to properly take care of one’s mental health.
“We are so excited about this partnership to continue the Hearts+Minds program,” Holker continued in her speech. “We’re excited to team up with something that’s already doing so much, inspiring and teaching so many young children and adults how to get help with their mental health.”
Allison concluded her speech with thanks to her support system, composed of her friends and family, while giving special gratitude to her daughter as they both have done their best to move forward.
“Weslie, I’m so proud of you and I love you,” she finished. “Thank you.”
Co-host of the event, Jenna Dewan, later spoke with People about her close relationship with the Boss/Holker family, calling them “the aAllison Holker Makes First Public Appearance Since the Death of Her Husband, tWitchbsolute best” and “biggest hearted”.
“And I just think being here to help support her and her family and moving forward from tragedy and also supporting his legacy and his love and light and what he did for the world,” she added.
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