Julianne Hough Opens Up About Freezing Her Eggs at 36: ‘Reclaiming My Power’ trucc

The 'Dancing with the Stars' host opens up to PEOPLE about her egg-freezing journey, dating and her hopes for her next chapter

Julianne Hough was just 18 when she joined Dancing with the Stars as a professional dancer in 2007, with only $2,000 in her pocket after moving from Utah to Los Angeles.

And now, 18 years later, Hough, 36, is reflecting on what she'd tell teenage Julianne, whose beginnings on the show would launch a career beyond her wildest dreams.

After a pause, Hough says, "Honestly, I wouldn't tell her anything."

"She got me here today," she continues. "It's so funny because I think we always want to give our younger selves advice, but you don't know what you don't know until you know it."

As she's built her career over the past 18 years, Hough experienced great success while also overcoming challenges, including her endometriosis diagnosis in 2008 and a public split from ex-husband Brooks Laich in 2020. Still, she wouldn't change a thing.

"Every moment that I've gone through, whether it be painful mistakes, self-sabotaging, or being brave and taking a risk and putting yourself out there are just part of the journey," she says. "They build character."

Hough — who started dancing competitively at the age of 9 — quickly became a household name after winning her first season of DWTS with Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno, making her the youngest pro to win on the program.
She left the show in 2009 and returned in 2014 to serve as a judge, a position she held until 2017. In the years she spent away from the show, she steadily carved out an acting career for herself with roles in films like 2010's Burlesque, 2011's Footloose, 2012's Rock of Ages and 2013's Safe Haven.

She also played Sandy in the live Fox television production of Grease in 2016 and launched her Los Angeles dance and fitness studio KINRGY in 2018.

"Being a founder is one of the hardest things you'll ever do because it's like you have an idea, and then you have to let it go and let it breathe and do its own thing," she says. "The best compliment I get is when people come up to me and are like, 'Wow, everybody who's here made me feel so welcomed. What you've created here has allowed me to connect to my body and my confidence."

Connection is deeply important to Hough, and it played a big part of why she decided to to share her egg-freezing journey to social media in early June.

"I wasn't really showing it to be like, 'I'm going to make a big statement,' but with the response I got, I realized how important it was," she says. "I found out I have endometriosis when I was 19 or 20, and I wish back then I would've been told to freeze my eggs, but I wasn't told until later on."

Hough's decision to undergo her most recent egg-freezing process, her third total, had a lot to do with freeing herself from the "psychological fear" of a ticking biological clock.

Along with her endometriosis, "I have some other health implications that might make [conceiving] challenging, and I got a divorce and now I'm in a different stage of life," she says. "For me, it's never been about, 'I'm not ready,' but I know it is for some people. I think the time will be right when it's right."

Since the first time she went through the egg-freezing process, Hough has noticed her growth.

"It ain't easy when you're doing the shots, but I will say this time around, I had a much better understanding of what I needed," she says. "Also, the first time I did it, I didn't do the shots myself. I went in every day, and they did them for me. Then I was like, 'Wait, I feel really empowered doing them myself.' Along the way I was able to call friends who have gone through it at any moment and be like, 'Hey, I feel really crazy right now. Can you just come over and sit next to me?'"

That sense of self understanding is thanks, in part, to the beauty of aging. The best part of her 30s, she says, has been "dropping in more to who I am as a woman and as a friend and having just more wisdom of not caring what people think."

"I always cognitively tried to live my life where I wasn't concerned about what others thought, but to truly feel it is a different thing," she says. "Now, I see it as, 'This is my one life that I get to live, and I get to design it however I want.' I'm reclaiming my own power. Then, whatever is supposed to come will naturally come."

Hough keeps that same mindset with dating.

"I think I have faith in general that I'm the person my person is also waiting for, you know?" she says. "If I'm ready for that next chapter of my life, it's because I'm in a really good place. So, I've just been focusing on what makes me happy and my vision of what I'm looking for, but not holding on too tightly. Me and my [dog] Sunny girl, we are happy, we are thriving, and creating space for whatever comes next."

So "must love dogs" is a non-negotiable?

"I'm not going to lie, I went on a date once and they said they didn't like dogs, and I was like, 'The date is over,'" she says with a laugh. "They even went one step further and were like, 'I mean, I guess I could like a dog if it was like a cat.' I was like, 'Oh my gosh, stop the car!'"

Beyond dating, Hough is keeping plenty busy with her work.

Since 2023, she's co-hosted DWTS  with Alfonso Ribeiro, and the duo are currently preparing for season 34 to kick off in September. She'll also return to the big screen in Maggie Gyllenhaal's Frankenstein-inspired film The Bride! premiering in 2026.

"I haven't done a movie in a very long time," she says. "To be a part of this cast and to work with the director, Maggie, in a role where I felt like, 'Oh, I know I can do well in this,' after not having that be my focus for a long time was a beautiful experience and foray back into the world of acting and filmmaking."

As she heads into a busy fall, Hough — who is also the new celebrity ambassador of Icelandic Glacial water — is debating on taking some much-deserved time off.

"This year has been a little bit of a transition for me, and even during the pandemic I was building KINRGY, so I didn't really take a proper break," she says. "I'm about to start something new and it's going to take a lot of energy and focus, so I might just take July and August off."

And yet, there's no doubt her vision for this next chapter will remain at the forefront of her mind.

"I just want to be a space or a person or a product that allows people to connect to their most authentic version of themselves," she says. "This next season of my life is more about taking all the things that I've learned and sort of passing it along in a way where it activates other people to step into their power."