Julianne Hough Sheds Light on Her Failed Marriage to Brooks Laich

The two dated for over three years before their 2017 wedding.

By Brenda Alexander

Julianne Hough's marriage to Brooks Laich ended just as soon as it began, at least according to the dance pro. Hough says the combination of common marital woes mixed with his career woes caused things to start "unraveling" almost immediately after they said "I Do." She spoke of their split while appearing on the Armchair Expert podcast  and admits that there were signs things wouldn't work before they tied the knot, with her saying she ignored a lot of "orange flags" before their 2017 nuptials. 

She says she and the former NHL star dated long-distance for over three years and didn't live together before they wed. Laich also "had a really tough last few years of his career" before he retired in 2018, which added to their growing strife. "He was injured and then he got traded before his team that he had been there for almost 12 years won the Stanley Cup," she said while becoming emotional. "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."

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A week after she asked her now-ex for a separation in September 2019, she says her two dogs died, leaving her separated. "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 added that she felt "uprooted." In hindsight, she says she feels like things could have worked out at 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."

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