Late last summer, Julianne Hough announced her engagement to certified hottie Brooks Laich. Brooks is a professional hockey player and he is GORGEOUS. If that tall drink of water was giving me a giant 5-carat diamond rings, I would want to lock that sh-t down so hard and so fast. But not Julianne. She’s been engaged for five months and she and Brooks have still not set a date. Her excuse is that she’s busy. TOO BUSY TO LOCK IT DOWN. She knows she’s playing with fire too – she tells People Magazine that it feels really weird to be engaged this long without setting a date, mostly because that kind of thing is just not done with Mormons.
Julianne Hough is in no rush to wed fiancé Brooks Laich. Her Mormon father has advised that “the minute you get engaged, you have to set a date,” but Hough says in the latest issue of PEOPLE that she and Laich are “just really enjoying” this stage in their relationship.
“In Mormon culture, three months is a long time to be engaged,” she says. “But we plan on being together forever, so we have time.”
Which is a good thing, because Hough, 27, and Laich, 32, are a little busy right now. Hough is rehearsing to star as Sandy in Fox’s upcoming Grease: Live (airing Jan. 31) and Laich, a Washington Capitals centerman, spends his weeks traveling across the country for NHL games.
Despite the frequent physical distance between the two, Hough says Laich “grounds” her. Still, neither half of the couple plans to slow down in the near future. So even though Hough says she’s wanted to be a mom since she was 5 years old, that won’t be happening “any time soon.”
“I’m all over the place,” she says. “So it’s really nice to have a solid path [with Brooks] now.”
It’s not that I forgot that Julianne was/is a Mormon – I actually think about it every time I write about her – but I guess I just thought that she had moved away from the church of Latter Day Saints in the past few years. I mean, she’s shacked up with Brooks, right? I think they’ve been living together for a while, and they’re already raising dogs together. My guess is that she still considers herself a Mormon but she lives a more liberal lifestyle than most people in LDS. By all accounts, Brooks does not belong to LDS. So I wonder where they’ll marry?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.
Man is he hot. (I’m sure he has other great qualities)
Lucky girl.
That is one beautiful man. I’m sad that I’m just now seeing that face.
I don’t find him hot; he looks a little caveman-ish to me. I thought Julianne was engaged before. Before Seacrest. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure of it.
Exactly. That face is NOT hot and will not produce pretty children. Ewww
Brooks is also a genuinely nice guy! He does a ton of charity work and there’s also a story out there of him stopping on a busy bridge to change a tire for a woman and her daughter because neither of them knew how.
Did she live w Seacrest?
She was his beard for awhile. She probably thought it would give her a career. Oops
I never liked that coupling, it was odd. I do have to admit her career really took off while she was dating him though.
Nancy girl you stole my comment.☺
In Mormon culture is it also common to discuss your pre-marital phone sex techniques with the press? Because I was just reading something last week where Julianne said she’s not good at it.
Surely Julianne realizes that the reason for extremely short engagements is the prohibition on premarital sex and cohabitation, which obviously doesn’t apply here?
I’ve worked with a family of Mormons and trust me, Julianne and Derrick would have been excommunicated long ago. Take a seat Miss Hough.
Very true. NO EXTRAMARITAL SEX EVER!
Yeah I lived in Utah for a while and trust me, she’s the furthest from a good Mormon out there.
wow, she is much cuter without all the make up.
I always thought she was pretty in a “plastic/Barbie” kind of way, but she rocks the natural look well.
That was my first thought: Ken and Barbie.
ITA that she’s beautiful without the face paint.
I am looking forward to Greece Live. She is going to be good in that.
LOL @ Greece Live – now that would be something to see!! But very low production budget haha 🙂
Yes! I had no idea she was so gorgeous.
Right! She always looks a bit off to me when she is dressed up. She looks really cute in these pics.
But is she a practicing mormon? I don’t think so. I don’t understand how anyone can call themselves a member of a religion when they don’t follow ANY of their religious teachings. This goes for Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc. as well.
One of my best friends is Mormon, and they are just like everyone else in every other religion. She follows her faith in ways that are meaningful to her. She and her husband go on missions for two years out of ten, she does tons of volunteer work, she goes to services, she doesn’t drink. But two of her children lived with their significant others before marriage and she didn’t think it was a big deal. Many religious people, almost all, probably, have parts of their faith that they don’t buy into. I have almost no beliefs in common with fundamentalist Christians. I think it’s unrealistic and unfair to say that someone who doesn’t follow the strictest interpretation of their religion has no right to claim it as their own.
I didn’t say “ALL aspects of one’s religion”…I said “ANY” aspects of one’s religion. I’m not sure she follows ANY mormon beliefs does she? This is the first I’ve heard of her following any of her religion (quick engagement part). There probably isn’t one person on this early who follows their religion strictly. As humans, we all judge, can feel jealous, hate, etc. What I can’t stand are those people who preach about their own religion but don’t follow any of it (not Julianne, just speaking of people in general).
If she’s claiming it as her religion, it must be meaningful to her in some way. If it’s meaningful to her in some way, she must follow it in some way. Why do you assume that there is not a single aspect of her religion that she follows? It’s not really any of our business how she practices her religion.
I think it’s complicated for people who’ve moved away from a fairly religious background. I generally call myself an atheist, but there are times where I mention Catholicism, because in certain conversations it becomes clear that my background being raised in that denomination has led to slightly different assumptions than someone who was Jewish or Hindu or even as an evangelical Protestant.
In Julianne’s case, the fact that her family is Mormon has impacted something that doesn’t even directly relate to religious teachings – a view of quick engagements as normal. If we didn’t know her background and she’d just said that her father wanted her to set a date as soon as she was engaged, I think many people’s interpretation would be, “Wow, her dad is nuts,” rather than, “Oh, this is one of those places where her values don’t match up with her parents.”
Ditto for Jews only more so. There’s a saying – Ask 10 Jews, get 10 opinions. Plus, it’s both a culture/ethnicity AND religion, so people pick and choose.
Husband and I know her father pretty well. Agreed with the below comment that she would have been excommunicated a long time ago-if she were still in Utah.
There’s a BIG, BIG difference in being a Mormon inside of Utah, and outside of Utah. Outside tends to be more slack. People here who are LDS don’t really give her a second thought. She’s essentially someone who left the church in their eyes.
If you are TOO BUSY TO LOCK THAT DOWN, no problem, I may be able to spare a minute for that- so move out if the way.
My little sister married a man who is Mormon, although not ‘practicing’. They were not allowed to marry in the church/temple, because she is not a member of LDS. Her little sister in law just married another Mormon within their sect, but the couple chose to hold the ceremony outside the temple, on the church grounds, because there is a rule that non-members cannot come inside, which would mean a bunch of their guests could not attend.
So I would guess Julianne can marry her hottie anywhere except inside their church/temple deal.
And she ought to lock him down super quick – he is gorgeous. WOW. Having a hard time looking away.
I find her so cheesy and attention hungry.
I see her name mentioned a lot but I have no idea who she is.
I think it’s healthy and refreshing to see a celebrity not rushing into a marriage!
Cute, him? I guess aging like milk is in these days (I’m sure he’s still very young). If he was a woman, you guys would say he looks harsh/rough and many more. Julianne is a striking blonde but her eyes and face paint combo scare me.
His career is on the downswing. I would be surprised if a marriage will happen if he is put on waivers.
She’s quoted saying: “I’m not practicing, but I’m so glad I was raised Mormon,” in the New York Post. I’ve seen her say something similar in other interviews; that she no longer believes or practices but values her upbringing. She only quotes the 3 month/mormon thing here because that is the culture she was raised in and what her parents would be used to, even though she isn’t Mormon any longer. She was super mormon when she first started on dancing with the stars, she was engaged and about to be married in the temple, but canceled in the last minute. From there, she lost her faith and moved on in her theology and shaped her own life.
I was mormon my whole life until 2 years ago ( when I was 31). In or out of Utah, you can and will be excommunicated if you admit to co-habitating or sex out of marriage and do not seek repentance and commit to change. If you don’t tell anyone, then that’s your secret? If you never attend, they won’t hunt you down. But if you are going weekly and seek inclusion? Yeah, not a chance. If you are seen as “on your way back in”, then people let things slide more in hope for your full fellowship. There’s no way to blatantly or actively be living out of the church rules and remain in fellowship without discipline though.
She is an annoying and terrible person.