Dave Hollis, Disney Executive and Self-Help Author, Dead at 47

Dave Hollis, a former Disney executive who stepped down from his post to help his wife run her self-help and lifestyle brand, is dead at 47. According to the AP, Hollis died at his home in Texas.

Hollis’ ex-wife is the author behind Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing. She met Hollis while working at Miramax and broke through on social media in 2015, with her husband joining her in 2018. Rachel Hollis shared a heartbreaking post on Instagram in the wake of the terrible news.

“We are devastated,” Hollis wrote on Instagram. “I have no words and my heart is too broken.”

Hollis was part of the Disney family for close to 20 years, holding the title of head of distribution for seven years before walking away to join his wife’s company. They moved from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, and worked on creating online content, live streams, podcasts and “life-affirming conferences.” Their work together included the podcast Rise Together, focusing on their marriage.

The couple decided to end their marriage back in 2020, with Rachel Hollis writing a lengthy post explaining the split. “We started out as best friends 18 years ago and the truth is, that core friendship and the parts of us that work so well, have become a band-aid for the parts of us that don’t,” she wrote at the time. “We have worked endlessly over the last three years to make this work and have come to the conclusion that it is healthier and more respectful for us to choose this as the end of our journey as a married couple.”

Hollis helped usher blockbusters like Black Panther and Star Wars to theaters during his time at Disney. But he explained his decision to leave in 2018 as “a calling” and that it was a perfect cure for the “corporate rut” his career had become. He was also a motivational author, too, penning books Get Out of Your Own Way and Built Through Courage. They were released in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Hollis’ current partner, fitness trainer Heidi Powell, also shared her own horror on Instagram and called his passing a nightmare. “This isn’t the way it was supposed to end,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m heartbroken and totally devastated. I’m sick. My kids miss you so much. Our world is rocked. I will never be the same.”

No cause of death was shared yet and investigators confirmed an autopsy would be coming to determine the facts. He had been seen the night before and still seemed “youthful” and lacked the medical history of someone who was ill. Rest in peace.