Family and friends of the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss are speaking out over his widow Allison Holker’s tell-all memoir and its related press, calling it a “smear campaign.”
The comments on social media cropped up on Tuesday after a new interview with PEOPLE in support of her forthcoming memoir, This Far (out Feb. 4), in which Holker claimed that Boss — who took his own life at age 40 in December 2022 — had hidden a “cornucopia” of drugs, including mushrooms, pills and “other substances” she had to “look up,” inside his shoeboxes, which she found after his passing.
“I was with one of my really dear friends, and we were cleaning out the closet and picking out an outfit for him for the funeral,” Holker, 36, told the outlet.
“It was a really triggering moment for me because there were a lot of things I discovered in our closet that I did not know existed. It was very alarming to me to learn that there was so much happening that I had no clue [about]. It was a really scary moment in my life to figure that out, but it also helped me process that he was going through so much and he was hiding so much, and there must have been a lot of shame in that.”
Family friend Courtney Ann Platt shared a photo of the story on her Instagram on Tuesday, with a lengthy caption slamming the memoir and the claims. “Anyone who knows me, knows I go straight to source during a conflict and handle my business but since there’s clearly no shame in being so public, I haven’t said a word in two years but here I go,” she began.
Allison Holker and Stephen “tWitch” Boss attend Illumination and Universal Pictures’ ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ Los Angeles premiere. Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Platt, who said she was there the day Holker and Boss got engaged and later when they got married, slammed the book and its press as “by far the most tacky, classless, opportunistic act I have ever seen in my entire life.”
She continued, “We all had to sign some weird NDA to attend his funeral (even his own mother who you’ve treated like garbage this entire time and let’s just remember you wouldn’t have even had a husband if it wasn’t for her) not to share anything or ruin his name as if that was on anyone’s mind in the first place and here you go and write a book with all the dirty laundry smearing his name and attempting to dim the bright loyal, loving, light that was your husband, my friend.”
Platt also took issue with “publishing a book shamelessly sharing the pages” of Boss’ journal. “What a joke. Yes, he took his own life which is a fact all of us still can’t fathom and he was clearly having mental health issues, hurting so deeply and this is your example of empathy? Of your love?” she added.
Platt concluded, “This smear campaign for a buck is absolutely not what he would have ever wanted. No matter how bad he was hurting. Not for second. You’re a living, breathing bulldozer. Stick to your own demons. Shame on you Allison, shame on your money hungry team. Let my friend Rest in Peace not your PR.”
Allison Holker and Stephen Boss attend the Los Angeles premiere screening of ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’. Emma McIntyre/Getty
Boss’ brother, Dré Rose, then shared a snap of Platt’s post on his Instagram Stories with the caption, “No lies told…” While he hasn’t shared a post of his own, Rose has also reposted many other similar stories from others slamming the memoir and its claims.
When reached by Entertainment Weekly, a rep for Holker declined to comment, but in her interview with PEOPLE, she told the outlet that she was sharing the stories in hopes of helping others.
Allison Holker response on Instagram.
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“It was really hard to put all the pieces together. Through certain discussions, even with friends and things that have been said, reading through his journals … you realize he went through a lot as a child and never faced it,” she said. “It’s hard to think that he never opened up to someone and wanted to face it, to get through on the other side. I really hope people dealing with the same thing will help themselves out of the shadows and [know] you’re going to be okay.”
On Tuesday, Holker shared the PEOPLE interview on her own Instagram Stories, as well as several messages in support of it. In one, actress and dancer Jenna Dewan wrote, “Love you @allisonholker and sharing this will help others reach out for help.”
