In a shocking new interview, Julianne Hough revealed a devastating truth about her past—she was sexually abused at just four years old by a neighbor who also targeted her brother, Derek Hough.
The sibling duo, who first made waves on ABC’s "Dancing With the Stars" and have since built successful careers across various projects, have faced more than their share of struggles.
Julianne Hough's candid revelations about the traumatic experiences she and Derek Hough endured during their early childhood shed light on the difficult journey they overcame to reach their current success.
As The Blast reported, Julianne appeared on the “The Jamie Kern Lima Show," where she opened up about the childhood trauma she endured, including sexual assault at the hands of her neighbor.
“My first experience was when I was about four years old. [It was] a neighbor in our cul-de-sac," she said on the show, per Us Weekly. "I’ve actually never said that out loud to someone in an interview before. That was a very confusing time, because growing up in the Mormon culture, everything needs to be perfect.”
Julianne added, “And by the way, I’m not the only one in my family that had gone through similar things. And so that was a very challenging thing to come to terms with, which is that nobody did anything. Being so young, and those being your first experiences — whether it be physical, mental, sexual — those abuses of power to someone who is vulnerable to it — it immediately sets a precedent of: other people have the power.”
Those same neighbors abused Julianne's brother, Derek. “My brother was hung upside down and there was a gun put to his head. There were all sorts of things by these people,” the actress said before getting emotional.
After taking a moment to compose herself, she added that her mom moved the family out of the house as quickly as she could and they cut ties with that neighbor. “I guess my mom did do what she could and she wanted to move and leave," Julianne said on the podcast. "She didn’t want to talk about it, but she did want to get us out.”
Julianne, who has three sisters in addition to her brother Derek, then revealed her siblings had their own traumatic experiences.
"The people that also violated my sisters or my brother or myself, they never got reprimanded for it. Because we didn’t say something,” she continued. “Instead we just pivoted and we moved. Which is good because we got out of the situation, but for me, that is another thing where I just pivot, pivot, pivot.”
Derek has previously opened up about his painful past, revealing that he was relentlessly bullied during his younger years. According to the dancer, his passion for dance made him an easy target for bullies, who zeroed in on him simply because of his chosen path.
“They would tie my ankles up with, you know, with rope and hang [me] up in a tree,” Derek said on an episode of "Good Morning America" in 2014. “My mom, you know, she basically told me to, she's like, 'Listen, touch them back, you know, and hit them.' So I did.”
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