Julianne Hough had some fun at the expense of the “trad wives” trend in a new video showing her cooking and doing light chores in a bikini.
The Dancing With the Stars judge, 36, shared the Instagram post on Sunday, September 22. The clip featured her wearing a white two-piece while whipping up lunch in her kitchen. Julianne did a few cute dance moves and cuddled her dog, Sunny, in her arms amid putting her meal in the oven.
“What’s the opposite of a tradwife?” Jules asked in the caption, along with a winking face emoji. One person joked in the comments, “Fab wife,” while another added, “Untradwife.”
Followers gushed over how stunning the pro dancer looked. “My celebrity crush is looking so gorgeous,” one fan commented, while another told her, “Jules, you’re super attractive when cooking especially in your attire.”
Others weren’t so sure what Julianne was up to wearing a bikini while cooking. “So, may I ask what you are trying to promote here? Loved you forever but not sure why the sudden thirst traps,” a user told the ABC star, while another hoped she didn’t get her skin burned, writing, “I don’t care what she’s not wearing or wearing just concerned she’s cooking without clothes on.”
Jules was seemingly poking fun at how trad wives have become social media sensations thanks to TikTok and Instagram. The term is short for a “traditional wife” who takes on the gender role of a woman being a stay-at-home mother, raising children, cooking, and tending to the house, with her husband being the primary breadwinner.
Trad wives such as Ballerina Farm‘s Hannah Neeleman and Nara Smith have gained huge followings by sharing recipes, crafting, posting child-rearing tips and other glimpses into their lifestyle.
Julianne married former NHL star Brooks Laich in 2017 after dating for four years. The duo announced their separation in May 2020 and their divorce was finalized in 2022. The former couple did not have children.
The Safe Haven star told Women’s Health in June 2020 that she froze her eggs. “We never actually tried to get pregnant. It was more of a precautionary measure: Let’s do our due diligence for the future by freezing eggs,” she explained.
Julianne was still interested in motherhood, but on her own terms.
“I believe in soul love, whatever that looks like. I kind of don’t believe in labels. It doesn’t mean that I won’t have a baby, etc.,” she says. “It just means that I’ve unplugged from what I feel like I should be doing versus what I actually want to be doing.”
Both mother of eight Hannah, 34, and mother of three Nara, 22, are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Julianne was raised Mormon.
“I’m not practicing, but I’m so glad I was raised Mormon,” the Grease Live! star explained in an October 2013 interview with the New York Post. She was brought up to practice “no sex before marriage, no drinking, no caffeine, no smoking, no swear words, no R-rated movies.”
Julianne joked about how things changed after she moved to Hollywood. “It was difficult because [when I first arrived] people thought I was this unicorn,” she recalled. “People wanted to know about me and why I didn’t do the things they did. But now it’s all gone to hell!”
