Brooks Laich can’t imagine life without his wife Julianne Hough

He said: “When I think of being married and being in my relationship, truthfully at my core, I don’t see any other life for me. Like that’s the life that I choose.

“I remember so vividly what it was like to be alone, to be single and feel alone and feel lonely. [That feeling] makes me appreciate being married so much more.”

In 2020, Brooks is hoping to explore his sexuality, so that he can discover his own “desires” as well as Julianne’s.

He added: “Nothing dirty can exist between two people in love. A big part of my journey in 2020 is exploring my sexuality. And by that I don’t mean if I’m gay or straight. I mean, in my sexual relationship, what is my sexuality and what am I craving, and what are my desires and what are my wife’s? How can we have this language to feed each other and get everything we want and be sexually expressed to the nth degree in everything?”

The sport star never had time to figure out his “capacity for sexual feelings” when he was an active athlete, so has made sure to make time now he’s retired.

He explained: “I woke up as an athlete, wanted to train, wanted to eat, sleep, rest, perform. Sexuality was way below all of that for the majority of my life … I’ve been exposed to a beautiful new side of life that I’d never explored or thought to explore. It’s amazing.”

And although he’s open to experimenting, the star has ruled out having a threesome.

Speaking on an episode of his ‘How Men Think’ podcast, he said: “I don’t know if I could ever get that. I can’t ever see myself being physical with somebody else. I just don’t think I could get there. I just don’t. In this stage of life, I’m looking for a deeper connection and romance.”