Current:Home > NewsJulianne Hough Details Gut-Wrenching Story of How Her Dogs Died -CapitalEdge
Julianne Hough Details Gut-Wrenching Story of How Her Dogs Died
View
Date:2025-04-22 13:07:59
Despite the years that have passed, Julianne Hough still feels this loss deeply.
Years after the Dancing with the Stars cohost shared she’d lost her two dogs Lexi, 11, and Harley, 8, suddenly in 2019, Julianne has confirmed for the first time how the dogs were killed.
“I had asked for a separation,” she remembered, referring to her divorce from her then-husband Brooks Laich, during her appearance on The Jamie Kern Lima Show. “And then ten days later my dogs were killed by coyotes.”
She continued, “I woke up before my phone even rang and I knew, and I picked up the phone and my assistant at the time was just like screaming.”
While noting she’d “never had coyotes in her yard” and that there had been gates, she reflected how now, looking back, there are some things she’s grateful for.
“That they went together, I'm so grateful they went together,” Julianne told host Jamie Kern Lima. “Two, I'm grateful that usually how it happens is very quick and that we got their bodies. But at that time I was like, ‘Oh that was the unraveling of the absolute safety of like unconditional love.’”
As Julianne put it, “I had two dogs that were my kids. I had them for 11 years and for eight years. And they were everything to me.”
To make an already devastating loss all the more difficult, not only did Lexi and Harley’s deaths come amid her breakup with Brooks, but the tragic event also fell while she and her longtime assistant had decided to part ways and while she was launching a new company, Kinrgy.
“I felt so out of alignment,” Julianna remembered through tears. “I'm about to start this company which is all about helping people connect to themselves and living their most expanded free self and assistant and I are breaking up, and I'm asking for a separation because something's not working. My dogs that represented unconditional love and safety are gone—I'm like, ‘What am I doing? I'm blowing up my life.’”
But while the loss of her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels was a devastating blow, a few years later, Julianne began to heal when she welcomed a new pup into her life, Sunny, in 2023.
On her new dog’s first birthday, the Safe Haven star reflected on the ways Sunny’s entrance into her life made everything brighter.
“Sunny, you have brought so much love and literal sunshine in to my life,” Julianne captioned her July 6 post. “I can’t remember a time without you. Lexi & Harley would have loved and played with you everyday and I know that they sent you to me, only when I was ready to open my heart and love again - you cracked me open sweetheart.”
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (8315)
Related
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- New York man claimed he owned the New Yorker Hotel, demanded rent from tenants: Court
- A Black author takes a new look at Georgia’s white founder and his failed attempt to ban slavery
- An ecstatic Super Bowl rally, upended by the terror of a mass shooting. How is Kansas City faring?
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Saving democracy is central to Biden’s campaign messaging. Will it resonate with swing state voters?
- Taylor Swift donates $100,000 to family of woman killed in Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting
- Christian-nation idea fuels US conservative causes, but historians say it misreads founders’ intent
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Presidents Day: From George Washington’s modest birthdays to big sales and 3-day weekends
Ranking
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- GOP candidates elevate anti-transgender messaging as a rallying call to Christian conservatives
- Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian's salary to significantly increase under new contract
- Israeli troops enter Al Nasser Hospital, Gaza's biggest hospital still functioning, amid the war with Hamas
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- A California judge is under investigation for alleged antisemitism and ethical violations
- Women's NCAA tournament and Caitlin Clark will outshine the men in March
- Albuquerque Police Department opens internal investigation into embattled DWI unit
Recommendation
New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
Autoworkers threaten to strike again at Ford's huge Kentucky truck plant
2 juveniles charged in Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting that killed 1, injured 22
In MLB jersey controversy, cheap-looking new duds cause a stir across baseball
The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
Former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre is on trial for alleged corruption. Here's what to know as the civil trial heads to a jury.
Bodies of deputy and woman he arrested found after patrol car goes into river; deputy's final text to wife was water
New Jersey district settles sex abuse lawsuit involving former teacher for $6 million