Forget about the wedding of Gabrielle on "Desperate Housewives."
Forget about Eva Longoria's real-life wedding to Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs.
What inquiring minds really want to know is: What's the deal with Utah-born Julianne Hough?
Is she romantically involved with her "Dancing With the Stars" partner, Olympic speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno? Is that why the 18-year-old "postponed" her wedding to 23-year-old Brigham Young University student Zach Wilson?
Well, no. And no. As anybody who reads People magazine can tell you.
Imagine that. The nation's leading source of celebrity gossip reporting on the love life of a teenager from Utah.
"That gets a little crazy," said Bruce Hough, Julianne Hough's father, in an interview with the Deseret Morning News. "You know how it is. ... Sometimes the facts aren't always exactly right. Some of these magazines and tabloids would love to create controversy where there isn't any.
"They're trying to paint a picture of the two of them as a couple. It ain't happening."
What has developed, he said, is "a brother-sister relationship — and one where you've got a bossy younger sister."
Julianne Hough's job is to make a ballroom dancer out of a speedskater. And she's bossed Ohno (who's moving to Utah to train for the 2010 Olympics) into the final three of the "Dancing With the Stars" competition. The finalists performed Monday night; the winner will be announced tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC/Ch. 4.
Heading into tonight's finale, Ohno and Hough lead the competition (based on the judges' voting) with 58 points. Joey Fatone and his partner have 56; Laila Ali and her partner 55.
(Viewers' phone-in votes will be tallied tonight, when the finalists will also perform one more time for the judges.)
Julianne Hough landed this gig pretty much straight out of high school.
"I've seen her perform for years and years in front of large audiences," said Bruce Hough, the former chairman of the Utah Republican Party. "But this is much bigger than any of us thought. It really hit home for me when I saw her picture on the cover of TV Guide. And then I open it up and see that it's a top-five television show. It's amazing."
Last week's performance episode of "Dancing" drew nearly 20 million viewers; the results show had nearly 17 million — the No. 5 and No. 8 shows of the week.
Julianne Hough lived in Utah until she was 10, then moved to London to study dance for five years. She returned long enough to graduate from Alta High School, then took off for Hollywood. When another dancer was injured, she joined the "Dancing With the Stars" touring show and then debuted on the TV show in January.
Now she is attracting the same kind of attention young actresses get when they land a hit TV show. Earlier this month, she and Ohno appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show.
Over the weekend, Hough was one of the celebrities at the opening for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." "It took her 2 1/2 hours to get down the red carpet because so many people wanted to interview her," Bruce Hough said. "At least she got to see the movie."
And "Dancing" is opening up other doors for the teenager, who headed to Hollywood with thoughts of being a singer and actress, not just a dancer.
She quickly landed spots in a couple of commercials, a bit part in an episode of "Cold Case" and a dancing gig on that "really awful TV show with William Shatner, 'Show Me the Money,'" her father said with a laugh. "She was one of the Million Dollar Dancers."
With her ongoing success on "Dancing With the Stars," Julianne Hough is getting a shot at her other show-biz dreams. She has "cut a couple of singles that will be released as part of a charity event in the next week," her father said. "And she's had people want to talk to her about movies and TV already. Clearly, she is on her way to doing some great things as an entertainer."
And the attention she's receiving will only increase if Ohno and Hough are announced as the winners on tonight's two-hour finale of "Dancing With the Stars."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com