Julianne Houghwas happily reunited with her husbandBrooks Laichon Thursday afternoon after the actress picked the hockey star up from the airport amid split rumors.
The couple was photographed sharing an embrace at the Hollywood Burbank with Hough, 31, captured sweetly looking up at Laich, 36, as he gazed down at her.
While Laich was seen wearing his wedding band at their airport reunion, a ring was missing from Hough’s finger.
Many fans noticed Hough was also without her wedding ring as she celebrated the New Year with Carson Daly while co-hosting NBC’sNew Year’s Eve.She was also ringless in a Dec. 24Instagram video. Laich did wear his ring in aJan. 2 workout video.
The pair, whotied the knotin July 2017, held on to each other for quite some time before Laich loaded his luggage in the back of Hough’s car. They exchanged a few words before getting inside the truck. As she walked to the driver’s seat, Hough was filmed smiling widely.
The reunion comes as a source told PEOPLE that Hough “loves” Brooks, but is “a completely different person now.”
Clint Brewer/BACKGRID
“It’s still complicated because she loves Brooks and she always will — she just thinks she is a completely different person than she was when she married him,” the source continued. “She’s had a total awakening and transformation, and it’s ongoing, and she isn’t able or interested in going back to who she was.”
Reps for the couple did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Last August, Houghcame out as “not straight”toWomen’s Health, admitting she had worried that Laich wouldn’t understand her sexuality. However, the formerDancing with the Starsjudge said the the two forged “a more intimate relationship” after their conversation.
The source told PEOPLE that the formerAmerica’s Got Talentjudge “really does hope” that her NHL star husband “will remain in her life in some way.”
“He’s always been her biggest fan and has been willing to back her up in anything she wanted to do,” the source continued.
Hough’s relationship with Brooks, which began in 2014, “came at a time when she really had so much confusion in so many other areas of her life,” the source says.
“And suddenly here was this guy willing to be her rock, to be her support no matter what, and that was just what she needed,” the source says. “But since then, she’s started to get more clarity on other parts of her life.”
Hough first rose to fame as a professional dancer and later judge onDWTS. Since then, the Emmy winner appeared in theGrease: Livespecial in 2016 and served as a judge for one season ofAmerica’s Got Talentlast year before her andGabrielle Union‘scontroversial exits.
Her acting credits include 2011’s remake ofFootloose, the 2013 Nicholas Spark adaptationSafe Havenand a 2019 episode in Netflix’s Dolly Parton anthology,Heartstrings.
Brooks Laich and Julianne Hough.Ali Buck
The source added that there are “real and deep changes” to Hough’s psyche, but that she is embracing them and “has no interest in going backwards.”
“Brooks can only change but so much to try to keep her,” the source said. “She’s spreading her wings now and no one, not Brooks or anyone, can really tie her down at this point.”
Hough and Laichtied the knotin July 2017 in an outdoor ceremony outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The pairannounced their engagement in August 2015following a year and a half of dating.
source: people.com
