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Julianne Hough’s “hot girl summer” is looking quite staid.
“I’m ready for friends and travel, and I guess that is a ‘hot girl summer.’ I don’t know,” the incoming “Dancing With the Stars” co-host told Page Six exclusively at the American Ballet Theatre’s June Gala last Thursday.
When we intimated that perhaps it might also include some romance, Hough laughed and said, “No!”
The dancer, 34, finalized her divorce from Brooks Laich in June 2022, two years after they announced their split.
“We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate,” the former couple said in a joint statement at the time. “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.”
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In the midst of her divorce, Hough moved from Los Angeles to New York City, which she is loving.
“Everything is so accessible at any moment, and it’s a city full of possibilities and dreams and connection, and you can think really big here,” she enthused to us. “It just feels like there’s more ability that you’re going to meet somebody or connect with somebody that has similar like-mindedness or complete opposite and can challenge you.
“I love the people. I love the culture. I love that every day I feel more a part of the world — and I love LA, too, but it just feels different.”
However, there is one thing about Manhattan that the former “America’s Got Talent” judge doesn’t love: the sometimes overwhelming stench of urine in the summertime.
“It’s give-and-take,” she said with a laugh. “You pay for certain things. You compromise on other things. Yes, the smell’s not very good.”
Hough will be heading back to LA in the fall to begin her co-hosting duties with Alfonso Ribeiro on “DWTS,” a show that she is closely aligned with, having been a professional dancer and then a judge.
But being at last week’s ballet gala reminded the actress that her life could have taken a very different route.
“When I was living in London, I was offered to go to the Royal Ballet, and I chose to stay in my performing arts school so that I could be a little more versatile, develop dancing, do acting and singing. At the time it was a very, very hard decision,” she shared.
Other celebs at the event included Mick Jagger and his ex-ballerina gal pal Melanie Hamrick, Katie Holmes, Misty Copeland, Cynthia Bailey and Sutton Stracke.
