comScore
  1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

Busting bad dish!

Hot Topics Jennifer Lawrence Kim Kardashian Rihanna Robert Pattinson Beyonce Justin Bieber Kristen Stewart

Julianne Hough: I Was Abused As Child

Truth rating: 10

4:12 pm, January 2nd, 2013

(Cosmopolitan)

Julianne Hough says she was abused as a child while training to be a dancer in London.

The actress makes the revelation in the February 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan, which features Hough on the cover.

Hough, who plays a survivor of domestic abuse in the upcoming film Safe Haven, tells the magazine about the traumatic period when she was sent to study dance at the Italia Conti Academy of Arts in England.

“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,” says Hough. “But my heart was the same, and I was this innocent little girl. I wanted so much love.”

Her experience turned ugly.

“While I was in London, I was abused, mentally, physically, everything,” recalls Hough, although she declines to specify who abused her or in what specific ways.

She explains, “I’m a very forgiving person, and I don’t want to hurt anybody. What’s past is past.”

The abuse worsened when Hough “started hitting puberty, when I started becoming a woman and stopped being a little girl.”

“This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten into my London situation,” says Hough. “I was told if I ever went back to the United States, three things were going to happen. One: I was going to amount to nothing. Two: I was going to work at Whataburger. And three: I was going to end up a slut. So, it was like, I can’t go back. I have to be this person.”

The actress worked through her emotions about the situation while filming Safe Haven, as director Lasse Hallstrom asked her to get into bed with co-star Josh Duhamel and talk, on camera, about some of what she’d gone through in London.

“I went from bawling to containing to laughing to crying again. Josh was crying,” remembers Hough. “I think it was the most therapeutic moment of my life.”

Follow @GossipCop on Twitter!

Like us on Facebook!

You might like:


  • LIA

    Sounds like something even worse than she’s letting on happened to her. Poor thing. She seems so beautiful and happy, I hope she’s healed in her heart.

  • http://twitter.com/cody_landman Cody Landman

    Props to her for taking on a role that involves digging into her dark past. I have quite a bit of faith that she’ll pull off the role of Katie really well.

  • Regina1180

    Ugh, I can’t imagine going through that at 10 years old. And I understand that it’s just entertainment and in NO WAY an invitation for scumbags to be scummy, but why in the world would a parent let their 10 year old go on looking much older?

  • chris

    Sad. But unfortunately do to celebrities like Kim Kartrashian, I don’t doubt for a minute that celebrities exaggerate stuff like this to sound more of the victim. Sad…about abuse in general and sad some celebrities put doubt in the publics mind about what is true.

  • Regina1180

    By the way, she looks so much like a young Cameron Diaz in the cover shot, IMO.

  • Lil

    You are exactly why so many children keep horrific secrets about what is happening to them. They are afraid someone will look at them and say “You are a lair.” When someone actually does stand up and say what happened to them do you really think the best thing to do is question their honesty? Child abuse in all forms is the most traumatic experience a person could go through as a child. It rips out a child’s soul and replaces it with nothing but self loathing and hatred. I am so ashamed of what you just wrote.

  • vanquish13

    Well said Lil, comments like Chris’s are exactly why people choose to suffer in silence and withdraw from family and friends. Chris you should be ashamed! Since when did a celebrity stop being a human being? Disgusting.

  • Erick12

    “I’m marrying my gay best friend” with Julianne in the cover…mmm.. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

  • Chloe

    WOW! This is profound news…I like this women even more.

  • D.B.

    Forget forgiving the pervert! She needs to out the pervert to save other children from going through what she experienced as a child. It wasn’t that long ago, so it is probably happening others to this day. She needs to protect others from this nightmare!

  • mugwort

    What I immediately got out of this article of Julian House being abused as a child is this. Your experiences are not necessarily your destiny. One with determination and faith can rise above one’s circumstances. It isn’t easy but it is possible. I wish her all the best acting in Lasse Hallstrom’s “Safe Haven”

  • huh?

    why the hell would anyone exaggerate for the public about abuse? i’m amazed that her director asked her to talk about it on camera. i’m glad it helped her but i would be like “excuse me?” It’s called acting. You act not have to actually go through an event to get the role. and for crying out loud people stop bringing up kim kardashian or paris hilton or lindsay lohan in every single celebrity or fame story. i’m not fans of them either but it’s possible that other celebrities have nothing to do with them. about julianne: damn. i was surprised to hear this. she’s a very beautiful girl. sorry she had to go through that. that abuser was dead wrong though. she’s so not a slut and i don’t think she’ll ever end up at Whataburger for a job. so up yours ass.

Abrams Media Network click here for advertising opportunities
X