Ryan Seacrest’s telling verdict on ex Julianne Hough in wedding dress after pair’s split

Wheel of Fortune host Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough dated during the early stages of their careers but ultimately the pair’s relationship wasn’t to last.

The former couple dated for three years (Image: FilmMagic)

Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough have remained amicable following their breakup in 2013.

The pair dated for three years and ended their relationship in March 2013. Over the years, there have been examples of how amicable the pair are towards each other. In 2017, Ryan when he was a then-host of Live With Kelly & Ryan had complimented the professional dancer’s wedding dress. At the time, she was marrying former Canadian professional ice hockey player Brooks Laich after four years of dating. Julianna and Brooks ended up separating in 2020 and finalized their divorce in 2022.

“I guess there were a couple of weddings over the weekend … Julianne Hough from Dancing With the Stars, congratulations to Jules!” Ryan first said as he held up a series of her wedding photos.

Kelly Ripa chimed in, “She looks beautiful.” Ryan agreed and added, “She looks stunning and there’s also a photo of her father, Bruce “I know this family and they are terrific people … super talented, she is, so congratulations, Julianne! Happy to see you happy.”

The couple are still amicable following their split in 2013 (Image: Getty Images)

In 2022, the exes displayed their friendship when the American Idol host interviewed Julianne and her brother Derek Hough on his show, On-Air With Ryan Seacrest.

During the interview, the two talked about if it was “awkward” for them being exes. Ryan declared, There is nothing uncomfortable about it because we remained friends for years and still are. Julianne expressed the same sentiment and added that they both still have “respect and love” for each other.

In August 2024, Julianne spoke more about her relationship to Ryan and offer insight into what lead to their break-up on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.

Dax had inquired about what it was like dating the former E! News host. Julianne said that it was “romantic” and “exciting” and that “lost” herself to that. She elaborated how she was crafting a career for herself and she didn’t want people to think she was taking advantage of Ryan.

“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,” The Dancing with the Stars judge said. “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.’ And so I then started playing smaller.”

Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich married in 2017 and finalized their divorce in 2022 (Image: BACKGRID)

Julianne went on to say that Ryan had experiences in the past of people using him for his fame so she ended up overcompensating, “So I again overcompensated, [I] was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy.”

Julianne further explained that this has been a pattern in her other relationships, where she molds herself to what they need so she “can be loved.” She recounted how when she broke up things off with Ryan to start constructing her own career for herself outside of him and how people reacted.

“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?’” Julianne 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.’”

She continued, “I didn’t think about what people thought. I was just wrestling on the inside… I definitely was in full self-preservation mode, so I was only concerned about me.”