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"While promoting her new film Safe Haven, Julianne Hough is opening up about how she personally relates to her character&amp;apos;s history of abuse in the film.\r\nAfter revealing in the February issue of Cosmopolitan magazine that she was the victim of child abuse, the 24-year-old actress tells ET Online she had to work hard to break free of her dark past.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I&amp;apos;ve been through certain things that have sucked the life out of me . . . just the light about me was gone. I was just a dark person,&amp;quot; she explains. &amp;quot;So I had to leave that situation and kind of come into my own again and I did.&amp;quot;\r\nHough&amp;apos;s character, Katie, in the film adaptation of Nicholas Spark&amp;apos;s bestselling book, falls in love with a widower after escaping a abusive ex-boyfriend. &amp;quot;Being Katie, I relate a lot to her,&amp;quot; she tells ET Online. &amp;quot;The fact that she had been in one situation that just sucked the life out of her, and it was a bad situation. She needed to change and move on and kind of find her own again. And through that you find love and everything.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nThe former Dancing With the Stars pro, who has been dating Ryan Seacrest for over two years, told Cosmopolitan magazine she was &amp;quot;abused, mentally, physically, everything&amp;quot; while studying dance at London&amp;apos;s Italia Conti Academy of the Arts.\r\n&amp;quot;I was 10 years old looking like I was 28, being a very sensual dancer,&amp;quot; Hough explained. &amp;quot;I was a tormented little kid who had to put on this sexy facade because that was my job and my life. But my heart was the same, and I was this innocent little girl. I wanted so much love.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nBut she doesn&amp;apos;t want to dwell on her past, dark life.\r\n&amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m a very forgiving person, and I don&amp;apos;t want to hurt anybody,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;What&amp;apos;s past is past.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/julianne-hough-childhood-abuse-sucked-the-life-out-of-me-201331>