Julianne Hough talks failed Ryan Seacrest relationship, new outlook on dating

Dancer-actress Julianne Hough reflects in a new interview on how past boyfriends, including Ryan Seacrest, have affected her current outlook on dating and relationships.

"I had this epiphany when my family went to a six-day seminar [last November] about creating your own destiny," Hough says in the new issue of Redbook. "I was not into it at first, but I learned so much about myself and why my relationships didn't work that by the end I was on a high. I was seeing a couple people, but immediately 'You are nice, but this is going nowhere.' "

The very next day, she said, a co-star of her upcoming thriller "Curve" introduced her to NHL player Brooks Laich, 31, whom she has been dating since December. "It couldn't have been a better time," Hough, 25, says. "We've been open and honest from day one."

Following her March 2013 breakup with radio personality and "American Idol" host Seacrest, 39, after more than two years of dating, she learned, she says, that "There was nothing right. I had one foot out because I didn't want to get hurt. And I didn't say what was on my mind because I didn't want to ruffle any feathers. I needed to be perfect. But now I'm not holding anything back, because I'd rather get my heart broken than never know what it is to be completely, madly in love. If I had been this open in my last relationship, who knows?"