Jonathan Sim
Few people can claim to have lived inside a television institution the way Julianne Hough has lived inside Dancing with the Stars. Over the course of two decades, she has worn nearly every hat the show has to offer — competitor, choreographer, guest judge, judge, and now co-host — evolving alongside a series that has itself grown into one of the longest-running and most-watched programs in American television history. As the show celebrates 20 years on air, Hough sat down to reflect on what that journey has meant, how her relationship with success has transformed, and why, after all this time, the Mirrorball trophy is no longer the point.
When asked which role on the show has taught her the most about herself, Hough didn’t hesitate to frame her answer through the lens of personal seasons. “I think they’re all different seasons of life,” she said. “As an 18-year-old coming on Dancing with the Stars, I was so green, so excited — I’d never experienced anything like this before. And it was 20 years ago, when the show was pretty new and 20 million viewers were watching every single week before, you know, TikTok existed.” That sudden immersion into America’s living rooms left a mark. “It was like this overnight feeling of being inside everyone’s living room for three months straight, and then going out into the public — it was sort of like all of a sudden I was a staple in people’s homes.”
But what she remembers most fondly about those early years wasn’t the fame — it was the focus. “Being 18, being on the show, having all these new experiences, but almost being naive in an ignorance-is-bliss kind of way — I was able to just be present and be part of the craft, and learn about my partner and what was best for them. I didn’t have the noise of the world yet. I was just so invested in what we were doing and creating.”
As the seasons progressed and social media arrived, the shift into judging brought a new dimension of purpose. “Being a judge was really nice because I had more of an influence — not just for the one partner I had, but on potentially helping people grow every week on a larger scale, being able to critique and give notes for all of the contestants. So that was another season of my life where I felt like I was growing as more of a leader.” And now, as host, the frame has widened even further. “I feel like I’ve really stepped into this stage of: how can I be the greatest conduit to make other people shine? And hold the space — not just for the dancer or the celebrities, but for the dancers, the judges, the audience inside the ballroom and watching on TV — and really hold the energy of how special this show is as a whole.”
The arc, she says, has been one of expanding perspective. “It went from being an individual, to being a leader, to now it’s really macro — this show is so much bigger than any one of us. And I’m about to sound like ChatGPT right now — we are part of the tapestry of the entire show. It really has been such an honor to grow with the show and, after 20 years, have it be bigger than it’s ever been, and feel like you’ve had a piece of that.”
What she understands now that she didn’t at the beginning comes down to one word: family. “At the beginning, I felt like it was more self-interested — like, how can I win with my partner and be the best and win that Mirrorball trophy for the two of us? And I think now what I’ve realized is it is such a family. We’ve had the same set designer and executive producers, and Conrad Green, who hired me when I was 18, left the show and came back. It really is a family.” For Hough, the show has become a model for something she believes the world at large could use more of. “We can have opposing views, we can compete against each other, but we can still support each other and want to see each other thrive. And I think our show represents that in such a beautiful way without pushing the agenda.”
That evolution in perspective extends to how Hough thinks about success itself. Asked whether her definition has changed since winning her first Mirrorball trophy, she laughed. “Absolutely. And also, I still kind of don’t know what the definition of success is. I think it changes based on what mental space I’m in.” As a competitor from childhood, winning was once the only metric that mattered. “As a kid, it was always about achieving the next big goal. Because I’ve been a competitor my whole life, it was always about winning.” But the older she’s gotten, the more the process itself has become the reward. “There’s the whole saying: success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Because you can just be on a hamster wheel — what’s next, what’s next, achieve, achieve, get rewarded — but if there isn’t a sense of fulfillment along the way, then you almost aren’t present with the beauty and the magic that’s happening in real time.”
She’s candid about what that looked like in practice. “You kind of look back and think, man, I achieved all these things, but did I share it with anyone? Was I present in that moment? Did I celebrate those special moments? Sometimes as a kid it was always just, keep the momentum going, don’t lose steam, what’s next? And I think now it’s much more about the process, the people you do it with, and — is it making you feel alive, or is it propelling you into the future where you’re not really in the moment?”
Finding that fulfillment, she says, has required a deliberate slowing down. “You can find what’s bad just as much as you can find what’s good — it all depends on what you focus on.” One concrete example: she chooses to show up to Monday rehearsals even when her hosting duties don’t require it. “That’s when you get to know the contestants and the pros. Those are the moments where you really see what they’ve been going through all week. On that Monday, you get to relax and slow down and connect with people on a deeper level. And that has allowed me to be really grateful for the little moments in life that make up the big ones. The big moment for Dancing with the Stars is that we’ve been on air for 20 years, but it’s all the little moments that got us here.”
That philosophy was forged, in part, through hardship. Hough is unflinching about the toll this industry can take. “This industry is not for the faint of heart. It is a master class in rejection and learning how to have a different perspective, because it can feel like a beating sometimes when you just get no after no after no — or ‘we went in a different direction’ — without giving you real clarity on anything. It can dim your light, and it can very much help you play small, because it compounds over time.”
The lesson she’s carried out of those valleys is one of reclaimed power. “If you let the outside world dictate how you feel, your success, your value, your worth, then you’re never going to feel like you have your own power. And I’ve let that happen a few times in my life, and I can really feel the difference.” The antidote, she’s found, isn’t defiance — it’s discernment. “You kind of have to pick your battles — what’s worth it and what’s not. Really focusing on what lights you up, what keeps you passionate and alive, and what allows you to continue growing into the best version of yourself as a person, as an artist, as a creator.”
Music is one arena where that internal reckoning has played out quietly. When asked about a potential return following her single Transform, Hough was reflective. “Music has been a part of my life forever. And that’s one of those moments where I think I lost a little bit of confidence — I would write, put something out, and then maybe it wasn’t to the expectation I was hoping for.” Rather than chase a career lane that didn’t feel right, she’s made peace with music as a private practice. “What I’ve realized about my music is that it’s really about my own internal joy of expression. I think the actual art of me singing in my car with my friends and writing because it’s my own personal brain dump — I think that’s what actually gives me more joy than trying to make it part of my career.”
That shift toward internal validation, she’s clear, doesn’t mean abandoning ambition. “That’s not to say that I don’t want to go for the awards — because when you have a goal like that, you have clear direction and a container to move towards, and that gives you fuel and motivation. But that can’t be the end result you’re looking for.” The goal posts, in other words, have moved — not inward toward complacency, but deeper toward meaning. “By all means, I still want to go for the Emmys, the Grammys, the Oscars, the Tonys — I’m ready for an EGOT, let’s go for it. But it’s not about getting it. It’s about what it takes to get there, and the joy and the fulfillment and the growth and the worthiness you carry when you are moving towards that.”
On the acting side, it’s her role in Safe Haven that has stayed with her most, and which has recently found a new generation of viewers. “It was the first film I did that wasn’t a musical or a dance film like Footloose. This was a Nicholas Sparks novel, and I was able to really sink in as an actress and go deeper into the layers of some of the trauma that character had gone through.” The experience, she says, followed a pattern she’s come to recognize in her own creative life. “Art imitates life — I always tend to attract whatever I’m personally moving through in my life in whatever project I’m doing. At that time, that specific character really taught me a lot about vulnerability and safety and being in a new environment and having to open up to new people.”
What has made the role endure isn’t just what it gave her, but what it gave audiences. “To this day, I get people telling me, ‘That movie allowed me to leave an abusive relationship,’ or, ‘This activated a part of me that I’ve never really been able to talk about, and I was able to move through it.’ That character specifically did something for me, but it also allowed other people to be seen through it and really make a difference in their lives.” It’s a throughline she intends to carry forward. “What I want to do now and for the rest of my time as an artist, a performer, an entertainer is to evoke some sort of connection with the audience, so that they can see themselves in the characters I play.”
Asked finally what her professional life has given her personal life, Hough responded, “Life experience. That actually kind of makes me want to cry.” She grew up in Utah, in a conservative household, before the industry took her somewhere she never expected. “The first thing I got to do was, at 10 years old, move to London, where my eyes were opened up and exposed to an entirely different culture — one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. So it gave me curiosity.” From there, the experiences only accumulated. “Some of my first movies were with Cher and Stanley Tucci and Dolly Parton and Tom Cruise — people who have been in this industry for decades. To be in proximity with icons and legends — it’s all about curiosity and wonder. And I feel like my life has been filled with both of those things.”
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