DeMarcus Ware may have won the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos back in 2016, but during last night’s episode of Dancing With The Stars, Ware opened up about the family struggles he had previously gone through. The theme of the night was Most Memorable Year, and Ware decided to focus on the year where everything came together.
He chose to focus on 2016 when he won the Super Bowl, but Ware noted that it meant so much more to have his children and his family there with him. He and Lindsay Arnold danced the Tango to Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet.
While talking about his family, he didn’t mention his ex-wife, Taniqua M. Smith. The two were married from 2005 to 2012 but ended up divorcing after seven years of marriage. While Smith and Ware have not revealed why they chose to divorce, the two did split amicably for their children.
And the kids were a huge part of his story last night on Dancing With The Stars. He explained that he and his ex-wife had tried to get pregnant for a long time, having lost three children along the way. One of them was lost in a miscarriage when Taniqua was five months along.
They decided to continue to try and get pregnant, but five months into their second pregnancy, they learned that the little boy she was carrying had no kidney. He would not be able to survive outside of the womb. The little boy was named Omar.
“When you have a lot of things happen in your life, you sit back and think, ‘Where’s the positivity in it? What can I learn from it?’” questioned the former Pro Bowl linebacker for the Denver Broncos, according to Mile High Sports. “Instead of having the feeling of, ‘Why me?’ I’ve always had that mentality of, ‘Yeah, these things happened, but how can I get better from it?’”
In 2007, Taniqua and DeMarcus got help from pregnancy specialists and high-risk pregnancy doctors, and they got pregnant again. But even with the help from professionals, the two delivered a second stillborn child. However, that same week, the news came that a woman was ready to give birth and she wanted to give up her daughter for adoption. Just weeks later, she gave birth to her daughter, and the Ware family was at the hospital, ready to welcome the baby into the world.
The little girl got the name Marley after Bob Marley. Two years later, Taniqua managed to carry a child to term, giving birth to DeMarcus Ware II, a little baby boy. He got the nickname Bubba.
Even after their divorce, DeMarcus and Taniqua appear to be co-parenting the children. Both have also moved on with their lives. Ware is now dating a woman named Angela Marie Daniel, while his ex-wife remarried in 2016.
As fans of Dancing With The Stars saw last night, his children were part of his performance. At the end of the dance, his two children ran on stage and hugged him. It’s clear that his children are an important part of his life, especially considering how emotional it was to get them.
His girlfriend also visited him on set this week, revealing that she’s standing behind him all the way.
DeMarcus Ware retired from the NFL after his Super Bowl win with the Denver Broncos back in 2016.
Dancing With The Stars airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.