Julianne Hough Didn’t Want Ryan Seacrest to Think She Was ‘Using’ Him During Their Relationship: ‘I Overcompensated’

Hough said she “was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy” while dating Seacrest from 2010 through 2013

Julianne Hough is reflecting on the end of her three-year relationship with Ryan Seacrest.

The dancer, 36, opened up about her time dating Seacrest, 49, on Monday’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast with host Dax Shepard.

She explained that because they started dating amid her rise to fame, she was concerned that it might send the wrong message as Seacrest was already well-established in the television and radio industry, including his gig hosting American Idol.

“The rug was swept up from underneath me, and I was just flying, and I was experiencing things that I didn’t even know existed,” Hough said. “But then I had this insecurity that I was like, I don’t ever want anybody to think that I’m with him for this reason.”

Shepard interjected that it would have been easy for people to assume “you were out there to try to get your own attention.”

In the past, Hough said the American Idol host — who both the actress and Shepard described as “a lovely guy” — had experiences with people “using him,” and she wanted to make it clear that she wasn’t doing the same.

“I overcompensated, was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy,” she explained. “And what I’ve realized over the years is I don’t know if I’ve ever truly been in love with someone, but I have loved the feeling of being loved. And so let me be what that needs to be so that I can be loved.”

She continued: “And then because I’m so filled with love from someone, of course I love you. I love everyone. I’ve been in love with everybody I’ve ever dated, but have I? I don’t wanna overanalyze it because every person I’ve also dated has been a very good person.”

Hough and Seacrest first met when she went on his radio show with her then-boyfriend, Chuck Wicks, but didn’t start dating until the summer of 2010, after her breakup from Wicks.

After several years together — which the Dancing with the Stars alum described as “romantic” and “exciting” — she said she and Seacrest ended things in 2013. Knowing it was important to her to make a name for herself, she revealed not everyone agreed with her decision.

“I remember when I decided to break things off, I had a lot of these Brentwood moms and producers in that world that were like, ‘What are you doing?’” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ They’re like, ‘Your life is completely set up.’ And I was, like, ‘But I didn’t build it.’”

Hough went on to date hockey player Brooks Laich the same year she split from Seacrest. In 2017, the two tied the knot, but later filed for divorce in 2020.

“We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate,” they said in a joint statement to PEOPLE at the time. “We share an abundance of love and respect for one another and will continue to lead with our hearts from that place.”

They finalized their divorce in 2022.