Julianne Hough Opens Up About Her Failed Marriage to Brooks Laich

Julianne Hough’s marriage to Brooks Laich ended just as soon as it began, as the dance professional shared her perspective. She revealed that a combination of typical marital issues and career-related stress led to their relationship “unraveling” almost immediately after their wedding. Discussing their split on the Armchair Expert podcast, Hough admitted there were warning signs before their 2017 nuptials, but she ignored many “orange flags.”

Hough explained that she and the ex-NHL star dated long-distance for over three years without living together before they wed. Laich had a difficult period during the last years of his career, retiring in 2018, which added to their problems. “He was injured and then got traded before his team, where he had been almost 12 years, won the Stanley Cup,” she said emotionally. “It makes me want to cry because I feel for him so bad… That was in 2017,” she added. “That was the year we got married and the year that everything started unraveling.”

A week after Hough asked Laich for a separation in September 2019, she faced additional heartbreak when her two dogs died. “It was very tragic,” she said. “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 also expressed feeling “uprooted” during this period. Reflecting on their relationship, she believes things might have worked out in a different time. “I feel like our relationship and our marriage was exactly right, and the end of it is right, too,” she explained. “We both have regrets that it didn’t work out because I don’t think we had the maturity to come together,” she continued. “He was contracting while I was expanding. We just couldn’t find each other in that.”