Julianne Hough: I've been through things that have sucked the life out of me

Julianne Hough has admitted difficult situations in her past had once "sucked the life" out of her.


"I've been through certain things that have sucked the life out of me and just the light about me was gone. I was just a dark person, and so, I had to leave that situation and kind of come into my own again and I did," the actress, singer and former Dancing with the Stars professional dancer told Entertainment Tonight during an interview broadcast Thursday night.

"I think a lot of people remember, or got to know me, through Dancing with the Stars and don't really know about my past before that, which I don't talk about much."

Although Hough did not reveal the exact instances that had dimmed her light in earlier years, she was presumably referring to her recent disclosure that she was abused as a child. Hough recently told Cosmopolitan magazine she had encountered adults who took advantage of her in numerous ways while studying dance in London starting at the age of 10.

"While I was in London, I was abused, mentally, physically, everything... I'm a very forgiving person, and I don't want to hurt anybody," Hough told Cosmo in its latest issue, reluctant to name any names or get into much detail.


"I was 10-years-old looking like I was 28, being a very sensual dancer. I was a tormented little kid who had to put on this sexy facade because that was my job and my life. But my heart was the same, and I was this innocent little girl. I wanted so much love... What's past is past. [But it got worse] when I started hitting puberty, when I started becoming a woman and stopped being a little girl."

However, Hough told ET the distress she had experienced in her life helped prepare her to play the emotionally-challenging lead role of Katie -- a girl who survives an ex-boyfriend's abuse and runs away to North Carolina only to find a widower whom she can finally trust and love -- in the upcoming movie Safe Haven. 

"Being Katie, I relate a lot to her. The fact that she had been in one situation that just sucked the life out of her, and it was a bad situation, and she needed to change and move on and kind of find her own again. And through that you find love and everything," the actress explained.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski