Julianne Hough Addresses ‘Work Session’ Exorcism Controversy

Julianne Hough continues to defend her viral “energy work session” from 2020, despite the exorcism comparisons it drew.

In a recent interview, the dancer and actress recalled when social media users made bizarre claims, saying she had “demons and an exorcist coming out of her b-tthole,” after footage of Dr. John Amaral working with her at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, went viral.

In the clip, the actress’s body convulsed, and she emitted what appeared to be involuntary screams as Dr. Amaral hovered his hand above her.

Four years later, Julianne Hough is standing by the “work session” while also poking fun at the exorcism claims.

The bizarre video of Julianne Hough had fans speculating she might have undergone an exorcism. In the 2020 clip, posted by a blogger, the former “Dancing with the Stars” pro is seen lying on a table while a doctor waves his hands over her body. As her body starts to move in a wave-like fashion, she shouts uncontrollably.

“Gonna tell my kids this is ‘The Exorcist’…(Policy Guideline (sic) Disclaimer: I aspire to such flexibility and mind-body connection and hope to have a similar org-smic experience at Kinrgy. Love and Light.)” blogger Jackie Schimmel, who filmed the video, said, per Fox News.

“What the actual…” “Vanderpump Rules” star Stassi Schroder said after seeing the clip.

“The demon is trapped in her little body. In the name of Jesus I rebuke this woman. Bye. Take it Jesus,” comedian Heather McMahan wrote.

Years later, Julianne Hough is speaking out regarding the claims.

When on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s “Off the Vine” podcast earlier this week, Julianne Hough talked about the controversial practice that had fans saying Julianne had “demons and an exorcist coming out of her b-tthole.”

While people mocked her at the time, Julianne says the times have changed, and now more people understand what that video was about.

“Of course, that was almost five years ago and now it’s so much more accessible,” she noted on the podcast, per Page Six. “People understand what’s happening. Energy is everything.”

While Julianne admitted that while she felt “liberated on the inside,” she says she “can speak my truth clearly, stand in my power and not feel overtaken by emotion, my mind and I feel free inside myself to just be.

“Our body is our vessel to hold our energy and that is the most prominent thing that we can take care of,” the “DWTS” host added.

In the 2020 video with Julianne Hough, Dr. Amaral detailed how the treatment affects the body’s nervous system.

“There’s always a huge dissipation of energy and a feeling of relief, release, freedom,” he said, though he never named the exact method of treatment demonstrated. “Expression of emotion may happen when the system moves. When energy that was stored or bound up in the muscles begins to dissipate, and if we’re really free to express and allow energy that we have in our bodies to move.”

“This woman is like an incredible dancer, actress, just human being, and she has practiced just allowing things to move through,” he added, referring to Julianne. “But even with that, things get bound up.”

On a recent episode of “The Jamie Kern Lima Show,” Julianne Hough opened up about the childhood trauma she endured, revealing she is a victim of sexual assault. 

“My first experience was when I was about four years old,” she said, per Us Weekly. “[It was] a neighbor in our cul-de-sac. I’ve actually never said that out loud to someone in an interview before. That was a very confusing time, because growing up in the Mormon culture, everything needs to be perfect.”

The “Dancing With The Stars” host continued, “And by the way, I’m not the only one in my family that had gone through similar things. And so that was a very challenging thing to come to terms with, which is that nobody did anything. Being so young, and those being your first experiences — whether it be physical, mental, sexual — those abuses of power to someone who is vulnerable to it — it immediately sets a precedent of: other people have the power.”

She went on to talk about her challenging childhood, revealing a particularly tough time when she and her brother, Derek Hough, were sent overseas by their parents to live and train with dance coaches Corky and Shirley Ballas.

She admitted that reconciling with her parents wasn’t straightforward, as they “felt guilty” about how they initially managed the situation.

“We both are experiencing different things even if it’s the same circumstances,” Julianne said. “For myself, it was all of my experiences about what happened to me, and in their experience, they have their own guilt and shame of other things that they were trying to do in the moment. So they can’t hear what happened because they were having their own experience.”