Julianne Hough Gets Candid About Her Breakup From Ryan Seacrest

Julianne Hough is opening up about why she split from Ryan Seacrest. The former pair met when appeared on his radio show. At the time, she was dating Chuck Wicks. They began dating in 2010 before they split in 2013. Hough alludes to their 10-year age difference and initial career imbalance as the reason for their split. For the dance professional, Hough says she morphed into a person she didn’t recognize in order to appease Seacrest. 

“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 during an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast with host Dax Shepard. Hough’s career was on the rise, while Seacrest was well-established into his hosting and television executive career. It caused her to overcompensate in their relationship to prove she was with him for genuine love.

“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,” she added. Hough admitted that in the past, Seacrest experienced people “using him,” so she says she “overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy.”

She continued: “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. And then because I’m so filled with love from someone, of course I love you. I love everyone. 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 opted to end things, and eventually received backlash from her inner circle. “I remember when I decided to break things off, I had a lot of these Brentwood moms and producers in that world that were like, ‘What are you doing?’” she said. “And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ They’re like, ‘Your life is completely set up.’ And I was, like, ‘But I didn’t build it.’”