Mark Ballas says he leaned on Derek Hough when his wife had a miscarriage while he was competing on Dancing with the Stars.

Ballas, who shares a 13-month-old son, Banksi Wylde Ballas, with his wife, BC Jean, shared that they welcomed their son a year after suffering pregnancy loss during the dancing competition’s 31st season, where he was teamed up with Charli D’Amelio and took home the Mirrorball trophy.

“I decided to go back to the season and found out my wife was pregnant,” Ballas, now 38, shared with host Jason Tartick on his podcast Trading Secrets on Dec. 2. “And then that week, we found that we had a miscarriage and I had to go to rehearsal and, you know, and that was a really heavy time.”

“At the time, Derek was one of the only people who knew,” Ballas said. “We really are like brothers. And we’ve been there for each other through each other’s ups and downs.”

He shared that the Viennese waltz he and Charli performed — which they began by letting a a yellow balloon float away — “was very much dedicated to that. Like that letting the balloon go … I just got goosebumps.”

Ballas shared that Charli and a “close group” of support“ helped me get through that. And that was very hard … very difficult time because you’re on this —  it just goes to show. Right? You watch these shows. Like, whether it be Dancing with Stars, The Bachelor. Is It Cake?  And you just don’t know where people are at. And even though we’re providing this this entertainment — that was top five hardest moments of my life.”

Ballas shared that the team behind Dancing with the Stars “was great with how they helped me navigate that week and stuff like that. But again, like, it’s not just a week of grief.”

He continued: “I still think about that, and the reason I spun to that is because there are those times during something that feels so, ‘Oh, you’re on Dancing with the Stars. Oh, you’re on Broadway’ [but] we’re all human, and we have human experiences.”

“That was a very wild experience for me from going from the heaviness of that and seeing the person I love the most go through that and then having to provide the highest quality of competition and dancing that I can provide at that time. You know? So those are there are those moments.”

“But I feel like in those moments, you learn, more about yourself, and I was lucky to have a good support system and Derek being one of them who, you know, really have my back.”