Julianne Hough Opens Up About Divorce from Ex-Husband Brooks Laich

Julianne Hough is reflecting on her past relationships and her marriage to former Canadian ice hockey player Brooks Laich in a recent interview.

Julianne, 36, and Brooks, 41, began dating in 2014 and got engaged in 2015. They married in 2017 but announced their separation in 2020. After a brief attempt to reconcile, they filed for divorce later that year, which was finalized in 2022.

While both Julianne and Brooks have moved on—Brooks is now engaged to Icelandic CrossFit athlete Katrín Davíðsdóttir—some regrets about their relationship remain.

During her appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Julianne opened up about the end of her relationship with Brooks, stating that it ended in the “right” way.

“I feel like our relationship and our marriage was exactly right, and the end of it is right too,” she said, reflecting on their early days and their marriage in 2017, a year that was particularly challenging for Brooks’ NHL career.

“We both have regrets that it didn’t work out because I don’t think we had the maturity to come together,” she shared about the year they got married. “That was the year we got married… and the year that everything kind of started to unravel.”

She continued: “He was contracting while I was expanding. We couldn’t find each other in that. We just went into our own protective modes. So we’ve definitely accepted what happened, but we’re sad that it didn’t work out because I’ve only dated great human beings.”

Julianne spoke warmly of Brooks, and they remain close friends. They were both part of her brother Derek Hough’s wedding party last year. “He’s got the greatest heart that I could’ve ever had the privilege of being with,” she said.

Julianne also reflected on her relationship with Ryan Seacrest, which lasted from 2010 to 2013. She was concerned that people might think she was dating Seacrest for his influence, given his established media career at the time.

“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,” she explained, adding that she was worried people would think she was with him for the wrong reasons.

Julianne admitted to feeling insecure and trying to fit into what she thought was expected of her. “I overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy,” she revealed.

Reflecting on her experiences over the years, Julianne expressed doubts about whether she had ever truly been in love. “And what I’ve realized over the years is I don’t know if I’ve ever truly been in love with someone, but I have loved the feeling of being loved. And so let me be what that needs to be so that I can be loved,” she said.

Julianne concluded that while she has loved everyone she’s dated, she questions whether it was genuine love or just the desire to feel loved. “I’ve been in love with everybody I’ve ever dated, but have I? I don’t wanna overanalyze it because every person I’ve also dated has been a very good person,” she said.