Julianne Hough ran into her ex-husband Brooks Laich at a wedding… and it actually wasn’t a complete s**t show?!
In Monday’s episode of The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast, the Dancing with the Stars host opened up about a recent encounter with her ex and his new girlfriend Katrín Tanja Davíðsdóttir at a wedding — which is definitely one of the last places you want to see a lover from your past! She shared:
“My ex-husband was there with his girlfriend. It was beautiful. It was so beautiful.”
Really?! Wow!
Related: Julianne Hough Finally Reveals The Shockingly Brutal Way Her Dogs Died
She went on to elaborate why this was such an easy interaction by sharing:
“I’m in this place where I now feel like I’m just beginning with so much wisdom, with so much insight, with so much empathy and understanding of what’s possible, and having the extreme of like, ‘Will this ever end?’ to ‘Oh my gosh, like, I get to, like, literally, design and create the life of my dreams,’ and know that every decision I’m going to make is going to be from here and that, like, you know, it still doesn’t mean it’s going to be this perfect life.”
But she’s on her way to something better — and that’s all that matters!
Perhaps what made the run-in so comfortable is because she’s in such a “stable” place in her life, too! She tearfully reflected:
“I landed at the wedding, I had no service and I didn’t have my dog there. I don’t have a parter that I’m in a relationship with. I was at a wedding where I knew the bride and the groom, no other people at the wedding. And I’m sitting here being like, wow. I don’t have my dogs here, don’t have a partner, don’t know these people, and I’m like, I’ve never felt more stable. I’ve never felt more secure. I’ve never felt more consistent. I’ve never felt more loved by the people around me than I do right now. […] I’m like, ‘Wow, I really have such a clean slate.'”
What a good feeling!
While the actress noted she’s not living “this perfect life,” all she wants is a “full, beautiful, connected life.” She furthered:
“You feel joy because you feel sorrow, you feel all these things because you have the spectrum to feel it. You have the space to feel it, and that, I think, is what we’re here to experience, is the fullness of life.”
Amazing!
The 36-year-old even acknowledged how much gratitude that she has for having gone through so many “hard things,” noting:
“I don’t also have this martyr complex where I have to go through hard things in order to feel like I have done enough, but I did. And so, now, I’m like, cool, I’ve done hard things. It’s just another thing I can do.”
Julianne and Brooks began dating in 2013 and tied the knot in 2017. However, they announced their split in 2020, and the divorce was finalized in 2022. Then, Brooks went Instagram official with the CrossFit athlete in 2021. The Footloose alum had a really challenging time after the separation, so it’s such a relief to hear she’s doing so well — even after a meetup with her ex and his new girl!
While she didn’t address whose wedding they were reunited at, both she and her ex were in her brother Derek Hough‘s wedding party back in August 2023.
In a previous part of the interview, Julianne said that despite everything that went down between her and Brooks, he was the “greatest thing that could have happened to me at that time of my life.” She shared that the relationship allowed her to reconnect with a younger version of herself who “needed safety and almost, like, a father figure to come in and be that grounding force of stability.” We know, “father figure” isn’t exactly how we’d want anyone describing a partner. But for Julianne, it was important!! She insisted:
“That was the dynamic of our relationship, I was able to start that healing.”
It was mostly the ice hockey player’s “stability” and the fact he “provided such a beautiful foundation for me to be a little girl” that helped her go through the journey of becoming “more of a woman.” And now, moving forward, she has “certain non-negotiables” in her romantic life. But that’s not her biggest priority, as she teased:
“[I want to be] living and vibrating in the place of my most authentic self for that to be what attracts whoever it is, versus I’m gonna put what I think I want and need out there and then literally force create it.”
Hear her share more on all she’s overcome and this surprisingly “beautiful” meetup with Brooks (below):
Thoughts? Share ’em (below)!
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