Julianne Hough reveals why she ended relationship with Ryan Seacrest

‘I overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy,’ Hough says

Julianne Hough has opened up about her decision to end her relationship with Ryan Seacrest.

The dancer – who dated the American Idol host from 2010 to 2013 – recently appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where she explained that the former couple’s relationship struggles largely stemmed from their different levels of fame.

“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,” Hough recalled to Shepard during the August 12 episode. “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.’”

The podcast host chimed in, mentioning that people tend to think she only made appearances with Seacrest for her own personal attention. Hough admitted that the new Wheel of Fortune host did experience people “using him” for increased attention, and it became important to her that the same assumptions weren’t made about herself.

“I overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy,” she said. “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.”

The Footloose star continued: “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 want to overanalyze it because every person I’ve also dated has been a very good person.”

Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough dated from 2010 to 2013 (Getty Images)

Hough and Seacrest first met when she appeared on his radio show with her previous boyfriend, Chuck Wicks. The two didn’t begin to date until the summer of 2010. Three years later, she decided to end the relationship and recalled how those around her had questioned why.

“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.’”

Following their relationship, Hough went on to marry hockey player Brooks Laich in 2017 before filing for divorce in 2020. Their divorce wasn’t finalized until 2022. Meanwhile, Seacrest split from model Aubrey Paige in April after three years of dating.

Most recently, Hough admitted that she had ended an on-going disagreement with her brother, Derek Hough, after his wife, Hayley Erbert, underwent an emergency cranioplasty – a type of surgery where part of the skull is repaired after injury from previous operations – last December.

“Something happens and it just is like a clean slate. Especially with what just happened with Derek and Hayley, there could have been little things just kind of looming or lingering in the background, but when you’re left with life-or-death situations, nothing else matters,” she said in an interview with People. “Whatever little things of competition there are or whatever it might be, those things just go away.”