How Julianne And Derek Hough's Siblings Really Feel About Their Fame

Professional dancer and host Julianne Hough has grown up in the "Dancing with the Stars" ballroom. She followed her brother Derek Hough's footsteps onto the show in 2007 at 18 and won the Mirrorball Trophy two seasons in a row. The siblings starred alongside each other on season 34 in 2025, with Julianne co-hosting and Derek at the judges' table. But Derek and Julianne have three sisters — Katherine, Sharee, and Marabeth Hough — who have private lives away from the spotlight. On a September 2025 episode of the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast, Julianne revealed how sisters felt about she and Derek's fame. 

She told host Amanda Hirsch that the Hough sisters don't experience jealousy in the traditional sense, but one of them pursued acting and another moved to Nashville with aspirations of a music career. Her sisters are happy with their lives, she said, but that doesn't mean they don't wonder about what could've been. "There's no jealousy, but there is, like, a sadness that maybe there wasn't an opportunity for them to experience it," Julianne said. "...They have great lives, and they love their life. But, you know, it's a 'what if.' We had an opportunity that they didn't have."

Julianne admitted that she wasn't close to her sisters in the past because she was afraid that sharing some experiences would hurt their feelings. Plus, she also wondered what life would have been like if she had chosen a different path. "They were super close as sisters growing up. And so I didn't get to have the closeness of sisters and that bond," she shared with Hirsch. The dancer touched upon another issue that has affected her life as well. "Or, you know, they have marriages and kids and I don't have that experience," she explained. 

Julianne Hough said on "Not Skinny But Not Fat" that she's worked to get closer to Katherine, Sharee, and Marabeth, and has started sharing more of her experiences with them. She said that all four women realize that their feelings are normal and there's no reason to compare their lives. "It's not one is better or, you know, than the other, but it's like we all have things that we desire," she said. 

Relationship expert Stephanie Wijkstrom, MS, LPC, NBCC told The List in an exclusive interview that Julianne and her siblings' feelings are natural and that jealousy isn't the green monster we often depict it to be — it's an emotion that we can't avoid, especially in sibling dynamics where rivalry can grow. "People tend to cast it into the shadows as something negative, but it can provide valuable information about our own areas of growth, what we want to protect, and dreams that are urging for fulfillment," she said. We have to notice it to change it and adjust our life goals if jealousy helps us uncover problems or new goals. 

"What we should never do with jealousy is try to pretend it doesn't exist or repress it because that serves to amplify those feelings," Wijkstrom added, explaining that jealousy, anger, and hurt feelings do not necessarily indicate a problem within a relationship. She also emphasized that those difficult feelings are not to be avoided. "They are simply emotions, along with love and joy, that encompass the full breadth of what it means to be human," she stated.