Julianne Hough isn't idolizing her past relationships. The Dancing With the Stars host recently reflected on dating Ryan Seacrest from 2010 to 2013, explaining that part of the reason for their breakup was because Julianne wanted to create a career for herself outside of the relationship. "I remember when I decided to break things off," she told Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert Aug.
12, "I had a lot of these Brentwood moms and producers in that world that were like, 'What are you doing?' And I was like, 'What do you mean?' They're like, 'Your life is completely set up.'" But as the 36-year-old explained, she didn't feel like she'd built that life. "Of course, I was like, 'I need to create this,'" she continued.
"Competitively, it's not mine. I need to feel the pride of doing it.'" And Julianne was also afraid those looking in on the relationship would think she was using the American Idol host for her own gain.
"I had this insecurity," she said, "that I was like, 'I don't ever want anybody to think that I'm with him for this reason.' And so I then started playing smaller." But according to the dancer, Ryan had experienced that dynamic in his previous relationships, so Julianne wanted to "overcompensate," admitting she was "was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy.
" And looking back on her many of her relationships—including her marriage to hockey player Brooks Laich from 2017 to 2020 —Julianne isn't sure if she's "ever.