Derek Hough has made a name for himself as a professional dancer and television host. The former Dancing With The Stars pro is a favorite among viewers. His popularity led to him stepping into the role of a judge on the ABC reality competition after Len Goodman died. Furthermore, he replaced Billy Bush as the host of Extra last year. But life wasn’t always so great. He candidly opened up about childhood bullies, including an incident where he was threatened with a gun. Keep reading for all the details.
Derek Hough Recalls Being Unpopular In School
Derek Hough was a pro dancer on Dancing With The Stars for an astounding 17 seasons. He’s won the most Mirrorball Trophies in the history of the show, nabbing the grand prize six times with his celebrity partners. He left the show in 2016 to pursue other opportunities.
However, he returned to fill in at the judges’ table for Len Goodman in 2020 when he wasn’t able to travel from the UK to the U.S. because of the pandemic. When the beloved host passed away three years later, Derek Hough became a permanent judge.
Despite his popularity with viewers, Derek Hough revealed that he wasn’t popular as a kid. In fact, he was brutally bullied by his schoolmates in Utah. He candidly discussed the incidents on The Bossticks podcast this week.
“I was always on the outside just trying to fit in and get in there. Being a dancer didn’t help. I would get the crap beaten out of me,” the DWTS judge said. The relentless bullying led to Derek Hough struggling with bed-wetting for a long time.
“I was a scared kid, I was a terrified kid. Scared of the dark, scared of my shadow, just scared and constantly on edge,” he recalled. While he was bullied at school, his neighbors were even worse.
DWTS Judge Claims Childhood Bullies Threatened Him With Gun
The DWTS fan favorite discussed childhood bullying last year to help bring awareness and funding to mental health programs. He revealed at the time that he was once held at gunpoint by the bullies. Derek Hough, who recently became a father, repeated the story on the podcast.
“We had these neighbors who were — bullying is kind of too nice of a word — they tormented me, where they would hang me up in a tree by my ankles and put a gun to my head and spit on me or hogtie me in a field,” he said.
Derek Hough shared that he tried to fight back against his bullies, but wound up in trouble himself. “At one school, a kid punched me in the face,” he continued. “I’m bleeding everywhere, but then I retaliated and started beating him up, and then I got expelled from school,” he recalled.
The bullying only eased up when he moved to London, England, when he was 12 to start training as a dancer. Childhood bullying is still a huge issue worldwide, especially in the U.S. Derek Hough added to the discussion about it by sharing his own terrifying experience.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
