Elaine DePrince, the mother of the late ballet dancer Michaela DePrince, passed away just one day after her famous daughter earlier this month. According to a statement from family spokesperson Jess Volinski posted on Facebook,
Elaine DePrince died on September 11 at the age of 77 during a routine procedure in preparation for surgery. Elaine, a former special education teacher, had raised 11 children with her husband Charles DePrince, who died in 2020. The couple had adopted three sons with hemophilia in the 1980s, all of whom later contracted HIV and died in the 1990s. Michaela DePrince, who had passed away on September 10 at the age of 29, was unknown to her mother at the time of her hospitalization. Volinski’s statement emphasized that, despite the heartbreaking timing, the deaths were unrelated and suggested that Elaine was spared the additional grief of losing another child. The family is now enduring the immense pain of losing two loved ones within a single day, a situation described as both tragic and devastating.
