Julianne Hough responds to critics who suggested she “eat a cheeseburger”
On Her Romance With Ex Ryan Seacrest
When Julianne started dating Ryan Seacrest in 2010, she was introduced to a new world—one with luxury vacations, courtside Lakers seats and glamorous date nights.
“The rug was swept up from underneath me and I was just flying,” she said on an August 2024 episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert. “I was experiencing things that I didn’t even know existed. 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. So I then started playing smaller.'”
And Julianne saw herself change.
“I, again, overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy,” she added. “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. 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 wanna overanalyze it because every person I’ve also dated has been a very good person.”
When Julianne and Ryan split 2013, she noted, a lot of “Brentwood moms and producers” questioned the decision.
“They’re like, ‘Your life is completely set up,'” she said. “And I was like, ‘But I didn’t build it.’ And of course I was like, ‘I need to create this,’ competitively, like, ‘it’s not mine, and I wanna feel the pride of doing it.’”