‘DWTS’ Host Julianne Hough Reflects on ‘Vulnerable and Empowering’ Coming Out Experience

Martin Holmes September 1, 2024, 10:44 am

Julianne Hough at the Tony Awards — Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Julianne Hough is reflecting on coming out as “not straight” back in 2019 and how it was “one of the most vulnerable and empowering things” she has ever done.

The Dancing with the Stars co-host appeared on The Jame Kern Lima Show podcast on Tuesday, August 27, where she opened up about how her life has changed since opening up about her sexuality in a 2019 Women’s Health interview.

“Coming out is one of the most vulnerable and empowering things that you can do,” Hough said, per People. “I think for me, it was very much like — it’s not about being straight or gay or bi or queer. It’s more about, ‘I think I’m just learning, like, what love is, and I love people and I don’t know what I’m attracted to, but I choose you.'”

She continued, “I was starting to see people and seeing their hearts and seeing their beauty and their essence coming through in a way that I was like, ‘Wow, I love people.’ And I don’t know if it’s a sexual attraction or a ‘this’ attraction, but I’m just seeing people. And that was such a beautiful revelation too.”

Hough, who first served as a dancer and choreographer on DWTS before becoming a judge and now co-host alongside Alfonso Ribeiro, previously spoke to Women’s Health about her relationship with her then-husband, NHL player Brooks Laich. In the interview, she revealed how her and Laich’s relationship had become “more intimate” after she came out.

“I [told him], ‘You know I’m not straight, right?’ And he was like, ‘I’m sorry what?'” she stated at the time. “I was like, ‘I’m not. But I choose to be with you.'”

She added, “I think there’s a safety with my husband now that I’m unpacking all of this, and there’s no fear of voicing things that I’ve been afraid to admit or that I’ve had shame or guilt about because of what I’ve been told or how I was raised.”

Hough and Laich separated in 2020, and though they later attempted to reconcile, Hough filed for divorce on November 2, 2020. The divorce was finalized on February 22, 2022.

'Dancing With the Stars' Season 33: Cast, Judges, Premiere Date

Speaking on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast last month, Hough opened up about her relationship troubles and her regrets about being unable to make her marriage work.

“We’ve definitely accepted what happened, but we’re sad that it didn’t work out because I’ve only dated great human beings,” she said. “I feel like our relationship and our marriage was exactly right, and the end of it is right too. We both have regrets that it didn’t work out because I don’t think we had the maturity to come together.”

Hough will return as co-host when DWTS premieres its 33rd season on September 17, 2024.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 33 Premiere, Tuesday, September 17, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+