Julianne Hough looks back on 'greatest' time with ex-hubby Brooks Laich

Julianne Hough looked back on her time with her ex-husband, Brooks Laich, revealing the ice hockey player made her feel like a “little girl” during their marriage.

The actress opened up about her relationship with Brooks during an interview with Jamie Kern Lima on Tuesday.

“What I needed at that time was to reconnect to my 10-year-old self,” said Julianne. “And what did I need at 10? I really needed safety, and almost, like, a father figure to come in and be that grounding force of stability.”

“And so I think a lot of our dynamic was this little girl feeling and this stability and stable man to be there. He provided such a beautiful foundation for me to be a little girl,” continued the Dancing With the Stars cohost.

The 36-year-old described her time with her ex-husband as “the greatest thing that could have happened to me at that time.”

“I started becoming more of a woman,” added the Footloose star . “And when that was happening, I was starting to listen to my voice more, not the 10-year-old voice that was making decisions subconsciously. And as that was happening, things started changing. I really started shifting and changing and questioning what I believed in.”

For the unversed, Brooks and Julianne called it quits in May 2020 after three years of marriage.