GONE TOO SOON
BEHIND THE BELOVED STAR’S BRIGHT SMILE WAS A TORMENTED SOUL
Around 9:20 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 12, Stephen “tWitch” Boss rang a nearby budget motel to check if rooms were available. About an hour later, he walked to the Oak Tree Inn in LA’s Encino neighborhood, leaving his car behind at the six-bedroom home he shared with his wife, dancer Allison Holker, and their three kids. “He was by himself. Everything was normal, nothing was weird,” the motel’s manager, Rakesh, tells In Touch. tWitch was carrying a small bag, and he booked for the night, Room 249 for $122.
It was the last time anyone saw him alive. “He went into his room,” the motel manager said, “and he never came out.” Early on the morning of Dec. 13 — just three days after they celebrated their nine-year wedding anniversary — tWitch’s wife, Allison, 34, frantically visited an LAPD station to report her husband had left their house without warning, wouldn’t answer her calls and had not returned. Soon, police learned why. Around 11:15 a.m., a motel staffer discovered tWitch’s lifeless body. Paramedics were called, but it was too late: tWitch, the jovial DJ and executive producer of Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show from 2014 to 2022, was dead at 40 from a selfinflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office confirmed. “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to share that my husband, Stephen, has left us,” a grieving Allison announced on Dec. 14. “Stephen lit up every room he stepped into. He valued family, friends and community above all else, and leading with love and light was everything to him.”
PRIVATE PAIN
But it soon became heartbreakingly clear that tWitch had secretly been consumed by darkness. When the maid found him in the bathroom of his motel room, “there was blood everywhere,” says the manager, speculating that staff and guests most likely didn’t hear the gunshot because the property is located on a busy, loud road.
Friends and family were stunned when they learned the circumstances surrounding the Magic Mike XXL star’s sudden passing, as many said tWitch seemed happy in the days
and weeks before his suicide. “It appeared he had everything — a loving and gorgeous wife, kids, a career, a beautiful home — but it’s obvious now that he was battling demons,” says an insider. “He’s talked about dealing with difficulties and overcoming hardships in the past, but no one saw this coming.”
DEVASTATED FAMILY
His loved ones are in unfathomable pain. “tWitch was so easygoing, always laughing and in good spirits,” continues the insider. “He had no enemies. He would say he liked to stay in his lane. His death shocked everyone that knew him. There were absolutely no warning signs or red flags.”
Eddy Boss last spoke to his grandson on Dec. 10. He confirms tWitch “was the same happy-go-lucky person that he’s always been. We had no indication that anything was out of the ordinary.” The 84-year-old also shared the dancer’s final words to him. tWitch sent him “a simple text that said, ‘I love you, Dad-Dad.’”
Two days before tWitch checked into the motel, he and Allison gushed about each other on Instagram as they marked
nine years of marriage. “Happy anniversary, my love,” tWitch wrote to his wife on Dec. 10 alongside beautiful images from their 2013 nuptials, while Allison wrote, “I love you, baby, and I will never take you or OUR love for granted!” One day after their anniversary, they were all smiles again as they danced in front of their Christmas tree in a “holiday Sunday funday” video they’d choreographed to an Alicia Keys song.
The couple, who fell in love after both appeared as all-stars on Season 7 of So You Think You Dance in 2010 (he was Season 2’s runner-up), were even talking about expanding their family. “I love the little babies, I love them. It’s a constant conversation,” tWitch — dad to son Maddox, 6, and daughter Zaia, 3, with Allison and devoted stepfather to Weslie, 14, Allison’s daughter from a previous relationship — said on The Jennifer Hudson Show in November. Added Allison: “I think we would love to start trying for another one.” According to the insider, tWitch “was a solid family man who was planning for the future — that’s what makes this so puzzling and heartbreaking.”
HAUNTING MESSAGE
Even during tough times, tWitch seemed optimistic and grateful to be alive. “One of my favorite parts of flying on a cloudy day is when the plane breaks through the clouds to reveal the beautiful day that’s just beyond the cloud ceiling,” he tweeted exactly two months before taking his own life. “A great reminder that just beyond [the clouds, there] are clear skies full of potential possibilities and promises.”
Right now, those clouds are dark and heavy with grief. “We’re completely devastated right now,” grandfather Eddy says. “He was a beautiful person who contributed so much to this world and to everyone he met in a positive way. We miss him dearly, and we’re hurting tremendously.” As Allison faces life as a widow and a single mother, she’s vowed “there won’t be a day that goes by that we won’t honor his memory. Stephen, we love you, we miss you, and I will always save the last dance for you.” ￭
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS CONSIDERING SUICIDE, PLEASE CONTACT THE 988 SUICIDE AND CRISIS LIFELINE BY DIALING 988, TEXT “STRENGTH” TO THE CRISIS TEXT LINE AT 741741, OR GO TO 988LIFELINE.ORG.