Peta Murgatroyd Recalls Last Convo With Her Late Dad In Emotional Tribute

Peta Murgatroyd is celebrating her late father, Derek John Murgatroyd's posthumous birthday.

Although it has been many months since her beloved father died, the professional Latin dancer's latest social media update has proven that she is yet to get over the tragedy. She went into details about the last interaction she had with him while marking what would have been the patriarch's 82nd birthday, igniting a receptive reaction from her hundreds of thousands of followers and supporters.

Peta's life forever changed when her beloved dad died at 81 on Thursday, December 29, 2022. At the time, she had shared two images on Instagram — the first being a view of her and Derek looking at each other while on a boat and the second showing how she placed her hand over her dad's frail hand.

Beneath the snaps, the two-time "Dancing with the Stars" champion dubbed the late octogenarian "the greatest dad" and "teddy bear," adding:

"I know though that you will continue to ride with me until I see you again. I hope I made you proud these 36 years. You were my everything and I will miss you until my days here are done."

Nearly six months later, the 37-year-old returned with another update, effusing over Derek with a posthumous 82nd birthday tribute. She began with an avalanche of images highlighting some of her fondest memories of her dad, including sweet family dates, meeting and holding his grandbabies, donning a suit to attend what appeared to be a dance, and finally sharing a tight hug.

"Thank you for always being the happy smiley one. Thank you for always being there for me and thank you for always being a phone call away. It's your birthday today and you being a typical cancerian S like me would want nothing more than to spend it with family," the accompanying caption began. Peta acknowledged that she "terribly" missed her dad, even though "the word terribly doesn't really suffice," continuing:

"My heart aches to hear your voice again. Know that you're missed beyond measure. I still feel the warmth of your hand in mine when we last said goodbye. I said to you.. "don't go anywhere ok dad?!" Your words back to me were.. "well where do you think I'm going darl?!" You never wanted to seem like you were done, you never wanted to scare me or make it seem like it was the end. I will never forget it."

In conclusion, the mother-of-two declared her undying affection for Derek and admitted that dealing with his birthday was "f**king hard." Besides liking the heartwrenching Instagram post over 30k times, several people trooped into the comments section to commensurate with her, with ballroom dancer Jenna  Johnson dropping multiple red heart emojis.

"😢 hold tight to those precious memories. Your dad will always be with you!" a fan emphatically told her, as Alfonso Ribeiro's wife Angela wrote, "Love you, Mama. Sending lots of love your way." A fourth person disclosed, "Awww my dad and I are both Cancers too 🥹 So blessed to have him with me and be my backbone like I'm sure your dad was with you 🕊️."

In June, Peta opened up to her 994k Instagram followers about suffering a memory lapse when she welcomed her second child with her husband, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Per The Blast, the new mom showed off her son, Rio John Chmerkovskiy, in an endearing clip that captured the unforgettable moments of his arrival, set to singer Natalie Taylor's 2016 single, "Loved You Before."

Starting the caption with a walk down memory lane, the choreographer recalled how her husband raced to the hospital "not knowing if he will make it or not." As it turned out, the then-expectant superstar did not have to wait too long to meet her baby boy, as "he was in the perfect place to push him out with 4 pushes." Explaining further, she revealed:

"There was a moment after the birth where I looked at my mum and said "did you text dad?"…I welled up with tears as I realized I'd forgotten he was gone. It was a moment for me. I knew I felt his spirit there and I know he will be looking down and protecting all of us here."

The confession tugged at the hearts of her fans, and they offered supportive words in the comments.