Danielle Fishel Opens Up About Son Adler’s Emotional Response to Her DWTS Run

11 November 2025

Eric McCandless/Disney

On the latest episode of her podcast “Pod Meets World,” actress ­and recent competitor on Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars ­Danielle Fishel shared an unexpectedly poignant moment involving her six-year-old son Adler that underscored the emotional toll of her dance-competition journey on family life. According to Fishel, while she was swept up in rehearsals and live broadcasts, Adler was quietly processing a shift he didn’t quite understand.

Fishel revealed that a call from Adler’s teacher brought the issue into the open. The teacher explained that Adler had told classmates that his father had been fired and more shockingly that his mother had died. “His teacher was like, ‘Well, why don’t you tell me more about that?’” Fishel recalled, noting the moment hit her like a bolt. “He just said ‘My mom is dead.’”

What followed was a conversation between mother and son that’s rarely staged in public view. Fishel said that when she picked Adler up from school she found him upset and teary, saying “I hate this job. Why did you take this job? All you do is dance, dance, dance, dance. That’s all you do! You never get to hang out with me and Keaton anymore. I want you to quit.”

In that car-ride moment, the gravity of a parent’s ambition colliding with a child’s need for presence crystallised. Fishel explained, “Mommy is not going to quit her job,” she told him. “One, I really love it. And two, it’s not forever.” She said that while the film and TV star understood the importance of her commitment, her son did not yet see the finish line or the fleeting nature of the show.

This candid anecdote offers a rare glimpse into the personal cost of live-TV competition on families. Fishel is a mother of two and married to producer and writer ­Jensen Karp. While the glitz of primetime broadcasts and red-carpet events often dominate headlines, this story turns the spotlight inward toward children waiting in the wings, grappling with a version of Mom they once knew transforming before their eyes. It was a mother trying to manage both her ambition and her child’s emotional world.

Fishel’s context here is significant. Diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer in 2024, she has spoken publicly about how the treatment altered her priorities and catalysed her decision to join Dancing with the Stars. For her, the season represented renewal, courage and reclamation of life beyond illness. But that narrative ran in parallel to her role as a parent navigating disruptions and absences. The two tracks ran side by side.

The conversation with Adler, while emotionally raw, also marked a turning point. Fishel described how after their argument she hugged him, he said “Mom?” and quietly apologised: “I’m sorry I said all of that stuff,” he offered. The moment underscored that while children may express distress in dramatic terms, their emotional core is often simple: “I want you here.” Fishel said they are still working through it.

In public life, where narrative is crafted and headlines dominate, Fishel’s story resonates because it reminds us that behind the spotlight lies a domestic reality. One where joyful ambition, schedule shifts, travel, rehearsal and spotlight can add up to absence in a child’s mind. One where illness, recovery, performance and passion all stake claims on her identity. And one where a six-year-old boy may momentarily say something extreme like “My mom is dead” to express something much simpler and much deeper.

The ramifications for viewers and parents alike are manifold. It prompts questions: how do children process a parent’s ambition? How do they feel when routines change and schedules accelerate? What compensatory conversations are we having at home when the cameras stop rolling? Fishel’s transparency opens a space for addressing those questions.

Professionally, Fishel’s elimination from the show may now mark the time to realign, reconnect and rebuild routine. She has said in other interviews that she looks forward to “slowing down, breathing, being home, being present.” For her family, this could be a new chapter where her choices shift from live-television intensity to everyday presence.

Because at the end of the day what the cameras saw the rehearsals, the performances, the broadcast smiles was only part of the story. What Adler saw was the absence, the dance rehearsals, the late nights, the promise. And what emerged was a simple truth: even when Mommy is on TV, she still needs to be Mommy at home. Fishel’s public account of her son’s emotional response offers an invitation for empathy, reflection and hope that the next act is as much about them as it is about her spotlight.