Julianne Hough ends 3-year marriage with Brooks Laich, files for divorce after coming out as 'not straight'
Julianne Hough has filed for divorce from Brooks Laich, on Monday, November 2, after three years of marriage and five months after the couple announced their separation according to documents obtained by The Blast. "They were trying to work on things but Julianne realized she’s happier having her freedom," a source told People Magazine. "Brooks tried to give it to her but he also hit his limit."
The 32-year-old Hough and 37-year-old Laich tied the knot in 2017 at Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, following a two-year-long engagement. The actress accepted a proposal from Laich in 2015, a year after they first started dating.
Nearly three years into their marriage, Hough and Laich had hit a rough patch in their marriage as the couple released a joint statement on May 29, 2020, announcing their separation. The statement 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. We kindly request your compassion and respect for our privacy moving forward."
Rumors of their marriage being in trouble had been doing the rounds for a while. They only intensified when the couple decided to quarantine separately when the coronavirus pandemic broke out. While the former 'America's Got Talent' star was staying in LA, her hockey player husband was in Idaho.
Hough was spotted without her wedding ring in a few pictures she has posted on social media earlier this year, which left people wondering if the couple's marriage was on the rocks. Hough was also spotted taking an afternoon stroll in April during the quarantine with her close friend Ben Barnes. Although their stroll seemed completely casual and innocent, people began wondering about her marriage and her husband.
It all began when Laich spotted Hough in a gum commercial and asked his actor friend Teddy Sears where he could find a girl like that. Soon after, while filming a never-released film with Hough in 2014, Sears invited Laich over to Los Angeles and thus sparked a romance that braved long-distance and relied on phone sex — an "art" that Hough was self-admittedly really bad at.
However, there were a million other things on their list of what they enjoyed together: athletics, outdoors, and being a treat to the eyes barely scratch the surface of that list. And then there was the 2017 wedding, cut straight out of one of those Disney picture storybooks — where the bride and groom arrived in vintage boats and Laich got so teary-eyed that married women around the world must have been jealous.
Last year, Kinergy founder Hough revealed to Women's Health that she had recently undergone a "massive transformation" and came out to her husband as "not straight". Soon after coming out as not straight, fans noticed how their loved up mush posts gushing about each other were becoming scarce on their personal accounts.
The heartbreaking aftermath of that was sources claiming they were "spending some time apart" — leaving the entire world wondering if the relationship could survive at all. The speculations and rumours were not for nothing since the actor put an end to it by filing for divorce.