Brooks Laich: My Podcast Forced Me to Open Up About My Personal Life

Opening up. Brooks Laich shared how his “How Men Think” podcast has allowed him to explore an entirely new side of himself.

In the podcast’s one-year anniversary episode, Laich and his cohosts gave an example to something “unique” they have learned about themselves while doing the podcast.

“As a guy, I just bottled every emotion, eternalized everything, didn’t outwardly express any emotion. Anything like that,” the retired NHL player, 36, explained. “So I was no good at emotional intelligence, I had no emotional intelligence [or the] capacity to express emotion. One of the reasons why I wanted to do this podcast was to step into a space where I had to learn to and train the muscle and practice expressing myself more and opening up more.”

Laich continued, “I felt amazingly expressed and relaxed through this journey, through sharing stuff on the podcast. Through this space that we all five create, hold a safe space for each other to share what they’re going through. Share their hearts. I never in my life felt more emotionally expressed and it’s been absolutely wonderful for me.”

Brooks Laich Says His Podcast Forced Him to Open Up About His Personal Life
Brooks Laich in January 2020. Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock

The Canada native’s comments come on the heels of his May divorce announcement from estranged wife, Julianne Hough. In a statement, the former couple confirmed that they had “lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate.” Laich and Hough, 31, both affirmed that they still “share an abundance of love and respect for one another and will continue to lead with our hearts from that place.”

Leading up to their split, Laich had a candid discussion on his podcast about the importance of understanding and embracing sexuality. “People think sexuality is just the act of sex, of just having sex,” he explained in January. “And there’s much more to it. Here’s a question. This is an honest question for everybody in this room and every single person listening. Are you fully — 100 percent fully — expressed in your true sexuality? With your partner? That you could not imagine a better sex life with your partner. Are you truly there?”

One of Laich’s cohost admitted that they were not, to which he, too, responded: “I’m not either. I’m not either.”

Weeks ahead of his confession, Us Weekly exclusively revealed that Laich and the former America’s Got Talent judge “were having problems” in their marriage. A second source added that “everyone knows something is up.”

Laich and Hough tied the knot in July 2017. A source recently told Us that the dancer is “super upset” amid the split.

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source: usmagazine.com