When viewers were introduced to staff at Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant during Vanderpump Rules' 2013 premiere, it was clear everyone was intertwined in one another's love lives.
From Stassi Schroeder's rocky relationship with Jax Taylor, which took a turn when he hooked up with her best friend Kristen Doute, to Peter Madrigal's casual connections to several of the waitresses, including Katie Maloney, nothing was off-limits on screen.
Fans were in for a surprise when Lala Kent, who joined the Bravo series in 2014, chose not to share as many details about her love life with the camera. Ahead of filming season 5, the Give Them Lala author started seeing Randall Emmett, but they kept their relationship quiet for two years before going public in 2017.
Since going public with their relationship on Vanderpump Rules, the duo made headlines in October 2021 when the reality star erased all traces of her fiancé on social media. As rumors swirled about Emmett possibly cheated on the performer, Kent was spotted multiple times without her engagement ring. Us Weekly later confirmed their split.
Scroll down for a complete guide to the cast of Vanderpump Rules’ relationships:
While appearing on the Tuesday, August 27, episode of the “Jamie Kern Lima Show,” Hough, 36, explained that her relationship with Laich, 41, was the “greatest thing that could have happened to me at that time of my life.”
“What I needed at that time was to reconnect with my 10-year-old self,” she explained to host Jamie Kern Lima. “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.”
According to Hough, Laich “provided such a beautiful foundation for me to be a little girl, and as that was the dynamic of our relationship, I was able to start that healing. When I started going through all that journey, I started being more of a woman.”
Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich: The Way They Were
Fortunately, Laich gave her a “little girl feeling,” as well as “stability” and a “stable man to be there.”
During the August 15 episode of “The Jamie Kern Lima Show,” the Dancing With the Stars cohost opened up about her childhood trauma and revealed she was sexually abused at 4 years old by a neighbor.
Hough said she “blocked out” the experience for years, but she was able to come face-to-face with the trauma through her recent healing journey.
“I forgot about it. Then other things happened later in my childhood and at about 15, and I started sharing those things but I forgot about the neighbor thing,” Hough explained during the part 1 episode. “It wasn’t until I started doing the work recently. That’s why I blocked out from 10 to 15, because I had completely disassociated from that happening.”
Hough and Laich broke up in July 2020 after three years of marriage. Us Weekly confirmed that the duo’s divorce was finalized in June 2022.
When looking back on the love story, Hough still has positive things to say about that chapter of her life.
“We are important, special people in each other’s lives and we shared a really powerful season together,” she said on the August 27 podcast episode. “I know that I also brought a lot of things to his life that he’s shared with me also so it has definitely felt like a mutual respect and love and period of growth for both of us.”
Julianne Hough Through the Years: From ‘Dancing With the Stars’ to Triple Threat
While some parts of the relationship were challenging, Hough firmly believes that all things happen for a reason.
“I think everything has happened the way that it should have happened,” she added. “The growth and the learning and the evolution is what it needed to be. I’m grateful for it.”
