Julianne Hough Shares Message About ‘Change’ After Brooks Laich Split

Embracing the unknown. Dancing With the Stars judge Julianne Hough spread a positive message about “change” while leading her first Kinrgy class since confirming her split from husband Brooks Laich.

Julianne, 31, began the online exercise class on Saturday, May 30 with prayer pose. The virtual event raised funds for the Equal Justice Initiative in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. She spoke out against racism and stressed the importance of treating others “equally” as she uplifted participants.

“We can still have joy, celebration and liberation and celebrate the lives that have already been lost,” she continued during her class. “We don’t have to think about what we haven’t done in the past, but today we start. Step into the person you already know you are. When we rise together that’s how change happens. All this healing the last few months can help us move onto others and healing for others. Some of the words I chose today were honor, joy, celebration, peace and harmony. We’re all in this together.”

She also touched on how life is fluid and circumstances can change at any given moment — and she urged participants to embrace change. “We are here today to cut those limiting feelings. We are all throwing them away, like the water you can get crashed by the waves, but as you get deeper in the water you actually get more calm,” she explained. “Remember everything in life is a wave, it’s fluid and it can change like that. If we don’t like our history, we can start rewriting it right now — today is a new day!”

Her inspiration message comes just one day after she announced her breakup from Brooks, 36, after three years of marriage. “We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate,” the couple said in a statement to People on Friday, May 29. “We share an abundance of love and respect for one another and will continue to lead with our hearts from that place. We kindly request your compassion and respect for our privacy moving forward.”

Their split comes one month after the former couple started to quarantine separately amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Safe Haven actress and the former NHL star spend most of March together, but by April, they were living in separate states — Brooks headed off to his farm in Idaho while Julianne stayed in Los Angeles. On April 17, she was spotted out on a walk with Chronicles of Narnia actor Ben Barnes, which further fueled their split rumors.

“It was Julianne’s decision [to] spend time apart,” a source exclusively told In Touch at the time. “She feels it’s good for both of them to get some breathing space. Brooks was OK about it until he found out she’d decided to quarantine with Ben.”