Julianne Hough has revealed she was sexually abused aged just four

Julianne Hough has revealed she was sexually abused aged just four.

The 36-year-old actress has spoken for the first time about the abuse she allegedly faced when she was a minor and revealed "other things happened" to her when she was 15.

She shared on 'The Jamie Kern Lima Show': “My first experience was when I was about four years old.

“By a neighbour in in our cul-de-sac. I've actually never said that out loud to anybody in an interview before.”

The 'Rock of Ages' star grew up in a strict Mormon household and says her parents felt "helpless".

She continued: "That was a very, very confusing time because obviously growing up in the Mormon culture, everything needs to be perfect. Everybody needs to put on the shiny, ‘We've-got-our-stuff-together.’ And there was not a lot of repercussion for what had happened. So that was a very challenging thing to come to terms with, that nobody did anything.”

It wasn't until more recently that her parents have been able to talk to her about what happened.

She said: “Now that we've had these conversations, they've said those things.

At the time, of course, you're like, ‘Do more.’”

In fact, it was when she divorced Brooks Laich a few years ago that she was able to repair her relationship with her parents.

She shared: “They showed up for me as my parents and I needed that.

“I reclaimed my parental relationship with them, and I got to be the kid and they got to take care of me. That was the most healing time for us.”

The 'Dancing with the Stars' co-host felt ready to open up to her parents during the "healing" period after years of feeling guarded.

She went on: “I was in a vulnerable place of like, ‘I don't have anything to protect myself, I am completely raw, so maybe I can hear you more now, and even though I didn't think that you were understanding at the time, maybe you are, and I can actually receive it now because my guard is down and my heart is open.’ And so that's what when we really went through more of our healing and communication as adults.”

The ordeal left Julianne feeling extremely vulnerable and like other people had control over her.

She explained: “I think 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.’”

But she has since been able to regain her "voice".

She said: “As you build layers, you get further and further away from your authentic truth and yourself. And so that's been the delayering of just really trying to understand like, ‘What is my voice?’”

Julianne is "so grateful" for the strength she has found in survival.

She said: “There's so many people that do what they need to do to survive.

“And we should be so grateful for that part and that version of us and know that as an adult, like, ‘I see you now and you're not alone. I'm here. And I'm actually going to be there in that, that past version of yourself. And we're going to go back to that moment and you're going to be protected.’

“That's the lesson that I've learned in the last few years, which is with vulnerability comes strength.”