Julianne Hough’s Ex-husband Is a Professional Athlete – Here’s Who Else She Has Dated

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Julianne Hough is a very familiar face for fans of Dancing With the Stars. The show’s co-host and a former pro has not just made a name for herself in the show, and outside of it, but people are forever delighted at the fact that she and brother Derek Hough have ended up working together on Dancing With the Stars. Of course, the more people know about a celebrity, the more questions are asked, particularly about their personal lives. So, who is Julianne Hough’s ex-husband, and who has she dated in the past?

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Who is Julianne Hough’s ex-husband? Read on for the Dancing With the Stars co-host relationship history.

Brooks Laich (2013-2020)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 14: Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich attend the 2019 Industry Dance Awards at Avalon Hollywood on August 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Luna/FilmMagic)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 14: Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich attend the 2019 Industry Dance Awards at Avalon Hollywood on August 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Luna/FilmMagic)

Hough started dating professional hockey player Brooks Laich in 2013 after the two were introduced by a mutual friend. By 2015, the couple was engaged. “I’m just feeling so happy and blessed every moment of every day,” Hough told People about her engagement. “My favorite thing about being engaged is just a sense of warmth and joy.”

The two went on to marry in July 2017, but in May 2020, they announced they were ending their relationship in a joint statement to People, which read: “We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate. We share an abundance of love and respect for one another and will continue to lead with our hearts from that place.”

Hough recently spoke about the end of the relationship on the “Armchair Expert” podcast with host Dax Shephard, saying: “It wasn’t right. That can be a hard thing to fully accept. 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. He was contracting while I was expanding. We just couldn’t find each other in that.”

More: Meet the children of the Dancing With the Stars hosts

Ryan Seacrest (2010-2013)

Julianne Hough and Ryan Seacrest
Julianne Hough and Ryan Seacrest

Hough’s other high-profile relationship before her marriage to Laich was with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. The two met when Hough went on Seacrest’s radio show. Hough, however, was in a relationship at the time, so it would be a while before the two got together.

“The interview’s on YouTube, and I blush when I hear it because Ryan is hitting on me the entire time!” Hough told Glamour in 2012. “At the end, Ryan said something like, ‘You guys really have something special!’ And I thought to myself, He’s so full of s–t right now!”

Eventually, five months after Hough broke up with her ex, the two went on a date and then embarked on a relationship. But the relationship fizzled out in 2013. Hough has recently talked about that split, as well, and about how she perhaps made herself into someone she wasn’t to be in that relationship.

“I overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy,” the former Dancing With the Stars explained in the “Armchair Expert” podcast. “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.”

Chuck Wicks (2008-2009)

Julianne Hough and Chuck Wicks
Julianne Hough and Chuck Wicks

Before Seacrest, Hough dated country singer Chuck Wicks. The two met while touring with Brad Paisley in 2008. The two also competed on Dancing With the Stars together, finishing in 6th place. Not much has been said about their relationship, though Wicks did discuss the end of it on his podcast in 2020, saying: “It wasn’t fine. S— hit the fan. I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus but … it wasn’t my fault… Now, I just don’t even care … It’s on you. You get past it. I’ve seen her one time. I’ve seen her one time in 10 years.”

More: Meet the Dancing With the Stars Pros’ Partners in Real-Life

Zack Wilson (2007)

Hough got engaged very young, at 18, to Zack Wilson, a childhood friend from her hometown. In an interview with Glamour, Hough said, “When I first came to L.A. … I was engaged to someone else, a guy I knew from Utah who had served a Mormon mission.”

The relationship didn’t last long after Hough moved to LA. “He was a great guy — I’d known him since I was 9. But I needed to figure myself out more, and so I moved to L.A. and we ended it,” Hough also told Glamour.

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What are ex-Dancing with the Stars pros up to now? Find out in the gallery below!