Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich are going their separate ways.
Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich have split after three years of marriage.
The 31-year-old dancer and the 36-year-old hockey player announced they're separating in a joint statement released on Friday.
"We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate," the pair told People. "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."
Prior to the announcement, Hough and Laich decided to not quarantine together amid the coronavirus pandemic. She was also previously seen without her wedding ring in a few of her Instagram posts.
Laich shared a cryptic Instagram post on Jan. 7 and said he was looking forward to a "new chapter" in life.
"I feel like a lot of my life has been 'bound' to certain identities that have come through the sport I spent my life playing. Canadian, male, hockey player, disciplined, competitive, etc… and though I am all of those things, they do not define me, and I am not bound by them," he wrote. "In 2020, I look forward to releasing old identities, and stepping into a new chapter in my life."
"I feel a new stage of life calling me, and though I don’t exactly know what it is yet, it feels right, and exciting!" he continued. " ... So in 2020, I am 'boundless' and on a new journey."
Hough commented on the post, writing, "so beautiful ♥️."
Laich and Hough tied the knot in July 2017 in Idaho after dating since 2014. In October 2017, Hough told ET that she was loving married life.
"I'm really excited. This is a different chapter," she said at the time. "I'm 29, and I feel like I'm sort of coming into my own being married. I feel this maturity that has kind of just happened, and a peace and a direction that I want to go towards."
"All my friends are like, 'I think you're the most excited person to be married ever!'" she continued. "...There's people [who] ask if it's different, and it really is.... Obviously, our day-to-day life is similar, but just the deep amount and sense of love that you have for this person and just feeling totally one is so much more grand than I ever imagined. I think I wrote something about it recently, but I cannot wait to even imagine [and] to feel the kind of love I have for him in 20 years or 30. It's gonna be so deep."
Last August, Hough made headlines when she posed naked on the cover of Women's Health and said she told Laich that she was "not straight."
"I [told him], 'You know I'm not straight, right?' And he was like, 'I'm sorry, what?'" she recalled. "I was like, 'I'm not. But I choose to be with you.'"
"I think there's a safety with my husband now that I'm unpacking all of this," she continued. "There's no fear of voicing things that I've been afraid to admit or that I've had shame or guilt about because of what I've been told or how I was raised."
Meanwhile, on New Year's Eve, Laich shared that he wanted to learn more about his sexuality while filling in a 2020 goals list he shared on Instagram.
In the "I want to learn" category, Laich wrote, "More about intimacy and my sexuality." He also noted that he wants to be more "open to all things and present in my relationships," and concluded the list by saying he's most excited about "stepping into a new version of me."
The two later made headlines due to their decision to quarantine separately -- Hough remained in Los Angeles while Laich spent time at his property in Idaho. A source told ET they were "working on their marriage" as they spent time apart.
"They talk often but this is a very hard time," the source said. "They've been working on their marriage and being apart is not easy."
Still, Hough has remained supportive of Laich, complimenting him on his Instagram pics.
ET spoke with Hough in September on the America's Got Talent red carpet, where the former judge talked about why she and Laich were not in a hurry to have children after previously telling ET she's had "baby fever" since she was 5 years old.
"I'm not right now, no, but, you know, that's definitely been a part of my future in the past, of what I want," she shared. "I mean, we're living in a different time now where that was an old paradigm of what is expected. And, it's like, I have an incredible life where I get to nurture and be mama to lots of people, so who knows."
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