The Drama Between Julianne & Derek Hough, Explained

Siblings fight, and Julianne Hough and Derek Hough are no exception. The professional dancing duo competed on "Dancing With the Stars" for years and have since taken on new roles with Julianne as a host and Derek as a judge. Despite working closely, the siblings were at odds until reconciling in December 2023 after Derek's wife Hayley Erbert had a medical emergency — a cranial hematoma which required surgery. "Something happens and it just is like a clean slate," Julianne recounted to People in August 2024 about making up with Derek. "Especially with what just happened with Derek and Haley, there could have been little things just kind of looming or lingering in the background, but when you're left with life-or-death situations, nothing else matters."

But what caused their rift? In her People interview, Julianne continued, "Whatever little things of competition there are or whatever it might be, those things just go away." While speaking with Life & Style, an insider said something similar and chalked up Julianne and Derek's feud to jealousy. "Make no mistake, it's always been highly competitive between those two," the source said, adding, "When one of their careers is going better than the other ... jealousies arise and there's been bad blood between them in the past." The source even claimed that perhaps Derek wanted the hosting position that Julianne got on "DWTS."

Derek continuing his friendship with Julianne's ex-husband Brooks Laich after they divorced was another rumored point of sibling tension (and Derek included Laich as a groomsman at his August 2023 wedding). "It's like they put up a wall between them," the insider said of Derek and Julianne, "but to their credit, they're working on it, really trying to be friends even more than blood relatives." 

When you have as many siblings as Julianne Hough and Derek Hough do, fighting with one doesn't seem that big of a deal. But at the end of the day, Julianne and Derek are the only ones who understand what the other has been through. At ages 13 and 10, Derek and Julianne left their Mormon upbringing in Utah to attend the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts school in London for dance. During this time, the Hough siblings lived with professional dancers Shirley Ballas and Corky Ballas (and their son Mark Ballas) while their parents were divorcing back at home.

This experience was monumental in helping Derek and Julianne launch their careers, yet it was also a difficult time. "While I was in London, I was abused, mentally, physically, everything," Julianne told Cosmopolitan in 2013. Furthermore, Derek recalled getting in trouble while living with the Ballas family, claiming Shirley smacked him after he lied and said he didn't smoke. In his 2014 book "Taking the Lead: Lessons from a Life in Motion," Derek wrote (via USA Today), "She raised her hand and slapped it hard across my cheek. I swear I almost swallowed my teeth." 

Those tough times might have helped bond Derek and Julianne as siblings and dancers, since in a 2018 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Julianne gushed about how glad she was to have Derek in the same business. "I mean, the wave and the ride of the ups and downs, relationships and this ... to have somebody that close, that's like in the same world as you, that understands it ... we've both been very, very lucky to be each other's support," she said. "He's rad. I love him."