The love is still alive? Julianne Hough and her husband, Brooks Laich, were spotted together on Thursday, January 9, amid their marital problems.
In photos obtained by TMZ, Hough, 31, and Laich, 36, were seen hugging each other outside the Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles before hopping into a vehicle. The retired hockey player was still wearing his wedding band, but the Dancing With the Stars alum was pictured sans ring.
The couple’s sighting came one day after an insider told Us Weekly exclusively on Wednesday, January 8, that the duo “were having problems” in their marriage as recently as last month. “Everyone knows something is up,” a source close to Laich shared.
A second source revealed that Hough and Laich have “definitely” been “going through a rough patch” as of late. “They have both been in different places for work so they haven’t been able to spend as much time together this past few months.”
The former America’s Got Talent judge, for her part, has made a few appearances without her wedding ring. Her ring was noticeably absent when she cohosted NBC’s New Year’s Eve special with Carson Daly, a moment that occurred after she shared a video of herself decorating a Christmas tree without the diamond sparkler on December 24.
This past week, Brooks drove the split speculation further when he talked about beginning a “new chapter” in his life in a cryptic Instagram post. “I feel a new stage of life calling me,” he wrote on Tuesday, January 7. “And though I don’t exactly know what it is yet, it feels right, and exciting!”
Hough and Laich were introduced by a mutual pal in December 2013. They began dating in 2014, and the Canadian star later proposed to Hough in August 2015. The duo said “I do” in a ceremony held near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in July 2017.
Last year, Hough regarded going through the “ups and downs” as the “best part” of marriage. “I don’t know, that sounds really deep,” she told Us and other reporters that February. “But … those parts of you are the parts that you get to share with the person [who will remain] next to you at all times.”