Ryan Seacrest Gushes Over Ex-Girlfriend as They Reunite on Radio Show

Heavy/ABC Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest was full of compliments for his ex-girlfriend, Julianne Hough, when she appeared on his national radio show, “On Air With Ryan Seacrest,” on August 12, 2024. The “American Idol” host gushed about everything from the actress and dancer’s perfume to her new book as she joined him in his Los Angeles studio.

But things got a tad awkward when Seacrest’s co-hosts, Sisanie Villaclara and Tanya Rad, insisted on asking Hough, 36, whether Seacrest, 49, was a good “cuddler” when they were dating. The former couple was together from 2010 to 2013, according to People.

Hough and Seacrest carefully tiptoed around that topic and other questions about their relationship. But their reunion came just as Hough’s new podcast interview with Dax Shepard was being released, in which she did discuss in detail why she and Seacrest broke up after three years together.

Ryan Seacrest & Julianne Hough Reunited in the Place They Met — on His Radio Show

From the moment Hough entered the studio on August 12, Seacrest showered her with kindness, exclaiming, “There’s a fresh perfume I smell in the studio … is this your own fragrance?”

“I wish it was, does it smell good?” Hough replied, to which Seacrest said, “It smells great!”

The former couple first met on his radio show, according to People. Saying that having her in the studio again felt “very nostalgic for me,” Seacrest called Hough a “spiritual being” when she said she spent her July 20th birthday with her girlfriends “howling at the moon.”

Before talking with Hough about her new novel, “Everything We Never Knew,” Seacrest gushed, “You really can do everything. Like, you host … you sing, you perform, you interpretive dance.”

“I had a very good mentor for quite so many years,” Hough said, smiling at him.

“Who was that?” Seacrest laughed, adding, “I can only do one thing!”

When she began to argue, Seacrest said, “I can’t do interpretive dance,” and Hough interjected, “I don’t know — I’ve seen that before!”

That little tidbit excited Villaclara and Rad, who love teasing Seacrest about his relationships and  were eager to get the scoop on what kind of boyfriend he was with Hough. When they asked whether she’d ever taught Seacrest how to ballroom dance, the former couple said no — but then remembered that she got him on the dance floor at a company holiday party.

Seacrest laughed, “That’s the last time I was on a dance floor!”

Ryan Seacrest & Julianne Hough Claim They Don’t Remember Whether He Was a Good ‘Cuddler’

GettyRyan Seacrest and Julianne Hough at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on February 5, 2013.Villaclara and Rad also got to ask their burning question about whether Seacrest was good at cuddling. Villaclara said that Seacrest had recently claimed that he is “not a cuddler,” but she had a hard time believing that even “at the beginning of a relationship, when the sparks are flying,” that he didn’t cuddle at night with his main squeeze.

Hough and Seacrest looked quizzically at each other and the “Dancing With the Stars” host finally said, “I don’t really remember.” Smiling wide, Seacrest said, “I don’t either” — much to his co-hosts dismay.

But Hough was more forthcoming in her interview on the “Armchair Expert” podcast when Shepard asked her why she and Seacrest called it quits years ago. Explaining that, at the time, she was new to the entertainment industry while Seacrest was a well-established celebrity who’d already been hosting “American Idol” for many years, she was worried about looking like she was riding his coattails.

“The rug was swept up from underneath me, and I was just flying, and I was experiencing things that I didn’t even know existed,” Hough told Shepard. “But then I had this insecurity that I was like, I don’t ever want anybody to think that I’m with him for this reason.”

She recalled that many people were shocked when she decided to end things.

She told Shepard, “I remember when I decided to break things off, I had a lot of these Brentwood moms and producers in that world that were like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ They’re like, ‘Your life is completely set up.’ And I was, like, ‘But I didn’t build it.’”

Hough did virtually appear on Seacrest’s radio show in 2022 alongside her brother, Derek Hough, per Us Weekly, during which the former couple both said the interview wasn’t “awkward” because they had remained friends after their breakup.

Seacrest and Hough are both currently single; he and model Aubrey Paige split in April after three years together, per People, and Hough, who divorced Brooks Laich in 2022, told People in July that her “heart is open” for someone special to come into her life.

Toward the end of her new interview with Seacrest, during which she discussed the life lessons she incorporated into her new novel, she declared,  “I will say, I have never felt more at peace and grounded in who I am, and I really, really am happy.”

Seacrest replied, “It’s good to hear that, it’s good to see that.”