Hollywood star reveals she was sexually abused aged 4 and ‘nobody did anything’ about it-Robert Oliver-Entertainment – Metro

Julianne Hough came forward bravely on a brand new podcast (Picture: Disney/Getty)

American actress and reality TV star Julianne Hough has revealed she was sexually abused as a child, revealing her experiences for the very first time.

Julianne, 36, is most famous for her years as a dancer and a judge on Dancing With the Stars and has appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone aged 13 and hit musical Rock Of Ages.

Speaking to the Jamie Kern Lima Show, she explained how the abuse began in the early 1990s – Julianne grew up in the US state of Utah in a Mormon family.

‘My first experience was when I was about four years old,’ she told the hosts. ‘[I was abused] by a neighbour in our cul-de-sac. I’ve actually never said that out loud to anybody in an interview before.’

While she didn’t reveal the identity of the accused, Julianne did add that she wasn’t the only person in her family to experience abuse around the same time.

‘That was a very, very confusing time because, obviously, growing up in the Mormon culture, everything needs to be perfect. Everybody needs to put on the shiny [front].’

She’s known as a dancer and judge on Dancing With the Stars (Picture: Kelsey McNeal/Disney/Getty)

She added: ‘[We had to pretend] we’ve got our stuff together. And there was not a lot of repercussion for what had happened. So that was a very challenging thing to come to terms with, that nobody did anything.

‘I think being so young and those being my first experiences – whether it be physical, mental, sexual – those abuses of power [when I was] so vulnerable to it, it immediately set the precedent that other people had the power.’

Julianne continued: ‘I was a survivor so I had to be like “No, I have the power, I’m fighting against it to stay in control”, but the essence underneath that was that I was something people could take advantage of.’

‘I was a survivor so I had to be like “No, I have the power” (Picture: Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Later on the podcast, the Rock of Ages actress confessed that ‘other things happened’ later in life, but she chose to keep those experiences completely private.

Julianne was born and raised in Utah, with her father Bruce twice being chairman of the Utah Republican Party. Julianne and her brother Derek both went on to become professional dancers.

After her parents divorced, Julianne went to London to train in dancing and received coaching from none other than Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas.

Julianna was the youngest winner of Dancing With the Stars in 2006 (Picture: ABC via Getty Images)

In the 2000s, she moved back to America and eventually won the fourth season of Dancing With the Stars – at the time she was the youngest professional dancer to win the competition, aged just 18.

Once she became known for her dancing, Julianne starred in a run of dancing films, including Cher’s Burlesque, and a remake of Footloose, which was released in 2011.

After taking fewer and fewer film roles, she focused more on her TV career, becoming a judge on America’s Got Talent and even appearing as a guest dancer on Strictly itself for one episode in 2011.

Julianne was married to ice hockey player Brooks Laich between 2017 and 2022 before finalising their divorce.

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