Julianne Hough Comes Out as 'Not Straight'

Rock of Ages star and America's Got Talent judge Julianne Hough recently opened up about her sexuality in Women's Health Magazine. 

Four years into her marriage with professional hockey player Brooks Laich, she told her husband, "'You know I’m not straight, right?' And he was like, ‘I’m sorry, what?’ I was like, ‘I’m not. But I choose to be with you.’"

A personal transformation helped Hough be open about who she is. "I was connecting to the woman inside that doesn’t need anything, versus the little girl that looked to him to protect me," she explained to WHM. "I was like, ‘Is he going to love this version of me?’ But the more I dropped into my most authentic self, the more attracted he was to me."

Both Hough and her brother, dancer Derek Hough, grew up Mormon in Utah. The religion is notoriously anti-LGBTQ, which may have factored into the 31-year-old coming to terms with it.  

"I think there’s a safety with my husband now that I’m unpacking all of this," said Hough, "and there’s no fear of voicing things that I’ve been afraid to admit or that I’ve had shame or guilt about because of what I’ve been told or how I was raised."