Julianne Hough spills tea on why she broke up with Ryan Seacrest and Brooks Laich
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Julianne Hough is ready to talk about her past relationships and reflect on what went wrong.
On the August 12 episode of the 'Armchair Expert' podcast, Hough got candid with Dax Shepard, revealing some tantalizing details about her breakup with Ryan Seacrest and Brooks Laich.
Julianne Hough's struggled with fame and identity while dating Ryan Seacrest
Rewinding to Julianne Hough's romance with Ryan Seacrest - the 'Dancing with the Stars' pro and the TV host were an item from 2010 to 2013, but the reason behind their split has largely remained a mystery — until now.
According to Perez Hilton, Hough praised Seacrest as an incredible person and stressed that there was no bad blood between them, hinting that their breakup was far more intricate than it appeared.
“…dating Seacrest… it would be so exciting and so privileged and so romantic and then also I would feel like I was losing myself to all of that. That was exactly the dynamic. The rug was swept up from underneath me, and I was just flying and I was experiencing things that I didn’t even know existed. But then I had this insecurity that I was like, ‘I don’t ever want anybody to think that I’m with him for this reason'. And so I then started playing smaller.”
Julianne Hough revealed that she was determined not to be seen as a fame-seeker while dating Seacrest, despite being an emerging star herself.
She admitted, “I know that that was his experience in past situations and stuff, and so I again overcompensated, [I] was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy.”
After her split from Seacrest, Hough's love life took a turn as she dated and married Brooks Laich.
Unfortunately, their union didn’t fare any better, unraveling almost immediately after they said "I do."
Hough shared with Dax that their relationship fell apart quickly, attributing their downfall to a series of personal and joint misfortunes.
“He was injured and then he got traded before his team that he had been there for almost 12 years won the Stanley Cup. It makes me want to cry because I feel for him so bad. That was in 2017. That was the year we got married and the year that everything started unraveling.
Julianne Hough reflects on 2019 heartbreak from Brooks Laich
The American dancer and actress also opened up about a devastating period in her life that hit hard in 2019.
Following her decision to separate from NHL star Brooks Laich, she faced the heartbreaking loss of both her beloved dogs, Lexi and Harley.
“It was very tragic,” she reflected. “It was very tragic. That was all kind of happening at the same time and it was an unraveling. Everything that I had ever known, that I had put in place for my control and my protection … I had this marriage to this guy who represented more of a father figure to me, and while he was changing, I was changing."
Hough then revealed that she felt profoundly “uprooted” during the aftermath of her separation from Brooks Laich. “I [felt like] I literally blew up my entire life and I have nothing,” she admitted.
Despite the heartache, Hough believes that perhaps in “another time, another place,” things could have worked out differently. However, she’s come to terms with the end of their relationship, expressing no regrets about the journey.
Reflecting on their time together, she acknowledged that their relationship and marriage were right in their own way, but so was its conclusion. “We both have regrets that it didn’t work out, because I don’t think we had the maturity to come together. He was contracting while I was expanding. We just couldn’t find each other in that.”
In the end, Hough holds onto the positive aspects of her past relationships, stating, “I’ve only dated great human beings. He’s got the greatest heart that I could have ever had the privilege of being with.”
