Officially done. Julianne Hough has filed for divorce from Brooks Laich five months after announcing their split in May.
According to The Blast, the Dancing With the Stars alum, 32, submitted her paperwork to a Los Angeles court on Monday, November 2, filing for a dissolution of marriage.
Hough and the former NHL player, 37, tied the knot in July 2017 and confirmed nearly three years later that they were going their separate ways. “We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate,” they said in a joint statement earlier this year. “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.”
In the months leading up to their split, the former couple sparked speculation that they may have hit a bump in the road as they quarantined in separate states amid the coronavirus pandemic. In December 2019, Hough was also seen without her wedding ring multiple times. An insider told Us Weekly exclusively shortly after the pair called it quits that the end of their relationship was “a long time coming.”
“They argued a lot and just had different viewpoints on important issues,” the source added in May, noting that Laich and the Footloose actress were “trying to find themselves separate from one another and deal with any issues they’ve faced that were exasperated while married.”
Amid her relationship drama, Hough posted a cryptic message about “feeling stuck, depressed, anxious, or hopeless” and dyed her hair brown in what seemed to be a reflection of her mental state. The pair continued to share flirty messages with one another on Instagram in the wake of their split, and in July, Laich made an appearance at the ballroom dancer’s birthday pool party. That same month, a source told Us that Hough “fully” wanted to reconcile with the retired athlete.
While signs may have been pointing to a reunion between the estranged pair, they couldn’t quite make it work. In October, Derek Hough told Us exclusively that he wished nothing but the best for his sister and the Canadian athlete as they continued to navigate their split.
“For anybody that you love and that you care about, that’s all you want. You just want people around you to be happy and to support them in any way you possibly can and to serve them,” Derek said. “And that’s really the key. … We just want all of our family, we want all of our friends and everybody to be happy. And then if we can help that, then we’re happy to do it.”
