Ellen von Unwerth/GLAMOUR
Julianne Hough, the 23-year-old former "Dancing With the Stars" pro, has been lucky when it comes to her leading men. The "Footloose" actress stars alongside mega-star Tom Cruise in the upcoming movie "Rock of Ages," out June 15, and her real-life partner is her boyfriend of more than two years, Ryan Seacrest. Sounds pretty good, huh? In the latest issue of Glamour magazine, Hough dishes on how she feels about both of her leading men.
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While Hough and "American Idol" host Seacrest have dated since early 2010, the Utah native notes that romance could have bloomed earlier. "Well, when I first came to L.A., someone actually tried to set us up, but I was engaged to someone else, a guy I knew from Utah who had served a Mormon mission," Hough reveals. "He was a great guy — I'd known him since I was nine. But I needed to figure myself out more, and so I moved to L.A. and we ended it. And actually, he ended up marrying my childhood best friend, and now they have a kid together. It was a little weird when it happened, but they're a great couple!" Hough crossed paths with Seacrest when she and her boyfriend at the time, country singer Chuck Wicks, appeared on Seacrest's morning radio show in L.A. to promote "Dancing With the Stars," when they were competing as a duo in 2009. "The interview's on YouTube, and I blush when I hear it because Ryan is hitting on me the entire time! At the end, Ryan said something like, 'You guys really have something special!' And I thought to myself, He's so full of s--t right now!" Hough says. "When Chuck and I broke up, I wanted to be single. That lasted five months. Then Ryan and I went on a date." And, as we all know, the rest is history.
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Ellen von Unwerth/GLAMOUR
As for her leading role in "Rock of Ages," thanks to the movie's origins as a Broadway musical, Hough says everyone in the cast had to go through intense preparation. (It was undoubtedly easier for Hough to experience than some other actors, since she's danced for a living and released a self-titled country music album in 2008.) "It was kind of a rock-star camp," Hough explains. "We did vocal lessons every day. We had dance lessons. We had Rollerblading lessons. It was fun to be able to go back and be coached." But filming one scene in the movie, in which Cruise grabs her breast, was a little more difficult. "That was my first scene with him! I was nervous as all get-out, but after every take he high-fived me and was like, 'That was awesome,'" Hough says. But just because Hough had worked with Cruise, she reveals that she was still keenly aware of his movie star status. "At one point on the movie, I got really hurt — I tweaked my neck and was in so much pain. And everyone was pressuring me to keep shooting, but Tom came in and said, 'No, this is what insurance is for, Julianne. You have the rest of your career. You need to take care of yourself!' And I thought, Tom Cruise cares about me! Now I can cry."
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Read more about Hough in the July issue of Glamour.