Since he became the youngest pro to win “DWTS” during his first season alongside the Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno, Hough’s career lasted dance, music, cinema and entrepreneurship. She celebrated major victories, as in the spotlight in Hollywood films and launching her own well-being brand, while using deeply personal challenges, including her diagnosis of endometriosis in 2008 and her divorce in 2020 against the former NHL Brooks Laich player.

Almost two decades after starting, Julianne Hough returns to the journey that launched her in celebrity, and she would not change anything.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t tell him anything,” said Hough PEOPLE When asked what she would say to her teenager. “She brought me here today.”

“It’s so funny because I think we always want to give our young advice,” she continues. “But you don’t know what you don’t know until you know.”

After leaving “DWTS” in 2009, she returned to the ballroom in 2014 as a judge until 2017. Over the years, she built a notable curriculum vitae, with roles in “Burlesque”, “Footloose”, “Rock of Ages” and “Safe Haven”. She also gave life to Sandy in the live production of Fox of “Grease” in 2016.

“Every moment I have experienced, whether painful errors, self-sabotage or being courageous and taking a risk and putting you there, is only part of the trip,” said Hough. “They build character.”

And, in 2018, she founded her dance and fitness company based in Los Angeles, Kinrgy.

“Being a founder is one of the most difficult things you will never do,” she says. “It’s as if you had an idea, then you should let it go and let it breathe and do its own thing.”

But her proud moments come from the impact she had. “The best compliment I receive is when people come to me and say to me:” What you created here allowed me to connect to my body and my confidence, “she explained.

Since 2023, Hough has returned to “DWTS” as a co-host alongside Alfonso RibeiroAnd the pair is preparing for season 34, in first in September.

“Julianne is still as clumsy to interview celebrities,” said a fan last year. “I do not remember who she interviewed specifically this week, where she lost her question card, and therefore she stumbled on her words for a few seconds, trying to ask a question.”

However, Hough is not going anywhere.

She also returns to the world of film with a role in the next “Bride!” From Maggie Gyllenhaal. which is a film inspired by Frankenstein which will take place in 2026.

“I haven’t made a film for a very long time,” said Hough. “To be part of this cast, and work with Maggie, in a role in which I had the impression:” I know that I can do well in this area “, it was a great experience and a foray into the theater.”

With a crowded fall calendar and a new title as an ambassador for celebrities for Icelandic ice water, Hough plans a rare break.

“This year was a bit of a transition for me,” she said. “Even during the pandemic, I was building Kinrgy, so I didn’t really take a good break. I’m about to start something new, and it will take a lot of energy and concentration, so I could simply take the month of July and August.”

As for the rest? Hough’s orientation is clear. Empowerment.