Hilaria Baldwin Announces Sad Family News Amid ‘DWTS’ Rehearsals

Hilaria Baldwin is navigating a devastating family loss while competing on Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars.

The yoga instructor, who shares seven children with husband Alec Baldwin, announced Saturday on Instagram that her dog Dama had died.

“Rest in peace, sweet Dama,” she wrote alongside a broken heart emoji. “You brought so much joy to our lives…you were that dog that slept on my pregnant belly.”

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A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

She continued, “Your life was long and happy. I know you are running [through] fields and eating all the cookies you want. We are sad but grateful that we had you in our lives.”

Just three days later, Hilaria revealed that she wasn’t the only one mourning the loss of Dama, sharing a photo of her heartbroken other dog, Gitana. “This post is for the animal lovers,” she wrote in the caption. “One of the hardest things about losing our dog, Dama, has been the reaction of our other dog, Gitana. They lived their whole lives, inseparable, and it is gut wrenching to witness her sadness without her sister.”

Hilaria is balancing her grieving with rehearsals for Dancing With the Stars, on which she is currently competing alongside pro partner Gleb Savchenko. The pair had a close call with elimination last week, as they were the last to be declared safe before Corey Feldman and Baron Davis were ultimately sent packing, but they have chronicled their intense rehearsals on social media in the days that have followed.

The mother of seven, who shares children Carmen, 12, Rafael, 10, Leonardo, 9, Romeo, 6, Eduardo, 5, María, also 5, and Ilaria, 3, with Alec, told Page Six that her Dancing With the Stars journey has been “healing” for her and her kids.

“I used to hear when I was a younger mom, I used to hear about ‘me time,’ and I used to think it was like I didn’t deserve it,” she told the outlet after last week’s nailbiter episode.

“I think [there’s] a lot of guilt as a mother of taking a moment for yourself. Other mothers who had children, who were older than me and more experienced, would like be like, ‘Yeah, you totally need ‘me time’ to be a better mom,’” she continued. “And this is one of the first things I’ve ever done that is ‘me time,’ truly.”

“Dancing With the Stars is an amazing family where everybody has been so supportive and they made that possible,” she gushed. “So every day, my kids who have had a really hard past few years, are here and they’re seeing their mom happy and going off to work.”

She added that the experience has been “not just healing for me” but also but “healing for my children” as well, “Because children want to see their moms happy.”

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with new episodes streaming on Hulu the next day.