While Julianne Hough has stopped wearing her wedding ring amidst reports of trouble in paradise, her marriage with Brooks Laich might not be over.

Contradicting the reports of separation, Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich pack on the PDA. Not only the actress picked up her hockey star husband at the Hollywood Burbank Airport on Thursday morning, but she also gave him a nice long hug. Though the couple did not kiss, they exchanged smiles and quite a long embrace before driving off together.

Rumours of divorce started surfacing after the "Footloose" actress was spotted without her wedding ring in her Instagram posts. And though the couple shared a loving intimate moment at the airport, Hough still chose not to wear her ring. Laich, however, was seen wearing his, as can be seen in a video of the moment captured by TMZ.

While Hough was spotted minus the ring during co-hosting NBC's "New Year's Eve" with Carson Daly, Laich was sharing cryptic posts on Instagram that spoke about him moving onto a "new stage" in his life.

"In 2020, I look forward to releasing old identities, and stepping into a new chapter in my life," the retired athlete had written. In a previous post on Instagram, the 36-year-old shared his goals for the new year, one of which was exploring his "sexuality." In the "I want to learn" category, Laich admitted that he is interested in exploring "more about intimacy and sexuality." Being more "open to all things and present in my relationships" was also one of his goals.

Meanwhile, an insider tells People that the situation is "complicated" because Hough loves Laich, but has become a completely different person. "Julianne wants to become a new age, free-spirit, no boundaries guru, and she is living her life by this sort of 'no limits, no rules' mantra, and that doesn't vibe with being a wife. It's still complicated because she loves Brooks and she always will — she just thinks she is a completely different person than she was when she married him," the source said.

Julianne Hough dressed as Crazy Eyes, from the hit show Orange is the New Black. (Reuters)
Julianne Hough dressed as Crazy Eyes, from the hit show Orange is the New Black. (Reuters)

Hough and Laich began dating in 2014, and tied the knot in a ceremony in Idaho in July 2017. Their marriage made it to the headlines last year when Hough came out of the closet and also revealed the conversation where she told her husband about it.

In an interview with Women's Health magazine in August 2019, the 31-year-old said: "I (told him), 'You know I'm not straight, right?' And he was like, 'I'm sorry, what?' I was like, 'I'm not. But I choose to be with you.'"