Brooks Laich Addresses Comments on 'Exploring' His Sexuality Amid Julianne Hough Breakup Rumors

Over a month after he opened up about wanting to explore his sexuality, Brooks Laich is clarifying his comments on an upcoming episode of his podcast, How Men Think. During the episode, Laich noted that his desire to further explore his sexuality was inspired by his wife, Julianne Hough.

"Nothing dirty can exist between two people in love," Laich says on the upcoming episode, according to Entertainment Tonight. "A big part of my journey in 2020 is exploring my sexuality. And by that I don't mean if I'm gay or straight. I mean, in my sexual relationship, what is my sexuality and what am I craving, and what are my desires and what are my wife's?"

"How can we have this language to feed each other and get everything we want and be sexually expressed to the nth degree in everything," he adds.

Laich continued to say that he can finally explore this different side of himself since he is no longer focused solely on being a professional athlete (Laich was previously a pro hockey player).

"I woke up as an athlete, wanted to train, wanted to eat, sleep, rest, perform," he says. "Sexuality was way below all of that for the majority of my life… I've been exposed to a beautiful new side of life that I'd never explored or thought to explore. It's amazing."

Elsewhere on the upcoming episode of How Men Think, Laich further discusses his relationship with Hough and how he's eager to further develop their connection. Interestingly enough, his comments come amidst rumors that there's trouble in the couple's marriage.

"When I think of being married and being in my relationship, truthfully at my core, I don't see any other life for me," he says of being married to Hough, whom he wed in 2017. "Like, that's the life that I choose."

"I remember so vividly what it was like to be alone, to be single and feel alone and feel lonely," he explains, adding that it "makes me appreciate being married so much more."

As previously mentioned, Laich's clarification comes over a month after he initially told fans that he'd be exploring his sexuality in 2020. According to a separate report from Entertainment Tonight, the former hockey player announced his intention on his podcast, which he hosts with Gavin DeGraw.

"People think that sexuality is just the act of sex, of just having sex and there's so much more to it," he said. "Here's a question. This is an honest question for everybody in this room, and every single person listening: Are you fully, 100 percent fully, expressed in your true sexuality? With your partner? With everything? You could not imagine having a better sex life? Are you truly there?"

He added that he's "super excited about that journey to really learn about sexuality and also get better at the performance of it, but also just the understanding of who I am, who my wife is, that sort of dance."