Did ‘DWTS’ Partners Julianne Hough & Apolo Anton Ohno Date? The Romance Rumors, Explained
What To Know
- Julianne Hough and Apolo Anton Ohno won Season 4 of Dancing With the Stars in 2007.
- They’ll reunite in the ballroom 18 years later during the show’s 20th Anniversary Celebration episode.
- Hough and Ohno have both addressed rumors that they were romantically involved during their dancing partnership.
Julianne Hough was just 18 years old when she joined Dancing With the Stars as a professional dancer during Season 4 in 2007. She came onto the show with a bang, winning her first two seasons with partners Apolo Anton Ohno and Hélio Castroneves.
Hough only served as a pro on the show for five seasons, but she stayed part of the family. She eventually became a guest judge, then a full-time judge, and now, a cohost. For the show’s 20th Anniversary Celebration episode on Tuesday, November 11, she’ll reunite with Ohno, as he’s returning to the show to take part in the dance relay with Season 34 contestant Jordan Chiles.
Because having chemistry with a dance partner is a major part of DWTS, romance rumors have flown between pairs on the show over the years, including with Ohno and Hough. But did they ever actually date? Scroll down for what we know.
Did Julianne Hough and Apolo Anton Ohno date?
No, Hough and Ohno were never actually a romantic item. They’ve denied the romance rumors from the time they were on the show, including in an interview with People after their Mirrorball win.
“We have kept our relationship professional from the very beginning,” the Olympian said. “And I think it’s important. We’ve become great friends over the course of the show. I don’t think we’d have it any other way. So no, sorry.”
He shared a similar sentiment with the New York Post, adding, “There’s nothing to that. Our relationship was strictly professional. It was sometimes goofy, but was strictly professional. We had great chemistry on the dance floor, which is why people think [we’re romantically involved]. It meant I was doing my job [as a dancer].”
Nearly two decades later, Hough reiterated that nothing happened between her and her Season 4 partner. “There’s the whole thing where everybody finds love or hooks up on the show. Everybody thought I was hooking up with my partner, Apolo. Never in a million years,” she said on the In Your Dreams podcast in June 2025.
In fact, at the time of Hough and Ohono’s partnership, she was still figuring things out with childhood friend Zack Wilson, whom she was engaged to at just 18 years old. After winning the Mirrorball with Ohno in May 2007, Hough confirmed to People that she and Wilson were still together, although they decided to postpone their wedding, which was supposed to take place that August.
“We just want [more time] before we get married. It’s all good,” Hough confirmed. However, they split by November 2007.
Who is Apolo Anton Ohno dating now?
It’s unclear whether Ohno is currently in a relationship. His last public relationship was with actress Bianca Stam, whom he started dating in 2018 and was reportedly engaged to. However, Stam is now married to another man, with whom she has a child.
Who is Julianne Hough dating now?
Hough is not known to be in a relationship at the moment. She was previously married to hockey player Brooks Laich from 2017 until their 2020 separation. The divorce was finalized in 2022.
The professional dancer said that personal changes she was going through led to the split, noting that when she first started dating Laich, she needed someone who could give her “safety” and almost act as a “father figure.”
“[Then] I started becoming more of a woman,” she explained. “And when that was happening, I was starting to listen to my voice more, not the 10-year-old voice that was making decisions subconsciously. And as that was happening, things started changing. I really started shifting and changing and questioning what I believed in.”
She added that all of this was happening while her husband was coming to terms with the end of his hockey career. “It was an expansion for me and a contraction for him, and we weren’t understanding each other, and I don’t think we had the maturity to come together,” the Footloose star said.
Hough came out as “not straight” in 2019. “I think for me it was not about being straight or gay or bi or queer, it’s more about I think I’m just learning what love is and I love people,” she shared. “I don’t know what I’m attracted to, but I choose you. That is the freedom of the love that I was starting to experience.”
Dancing With the Stars, Season 34, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC
For more Dancing With the Stars, pick up a copy of TV Guide Magazine’s Dancing With the Stars: 20th Anniversary Special Collectors Issue, on stands now or available at DWTS.TVGM2025.com.
