Julianne Hough finally "let go" of her dead dogs after undergoing a soul retrieval ceremony

Speaking on 'The Jamie Kern Lima Show', she said: "When something really tragic happens, and a piece of your soul gets fragmented and it goes with whatever happened."

The 36-year-old star felt a piece of her soul had fragmented following the deaths of her dogs and a piece of her was still with her pets.

She said: "I did a retrieval of bringing my soul back and also giving their piece of them back to them too."

"I realised, 'Oh, I'm holding them back.' They need to be able to move forward and move on."

Following the process, Julianne felt "very whole" for the first time since Lexi and Harley's passing and it inspired her writing the song 'Tiny Oceans', which stemmed from her new novel 'Everything We Never Knew', which features a main character named after one of her dogs.

She said: "In the book, Lexi goes through a loss and so I wrote this song, very intentionally about my soul fraction or fragmentation, and that loss with my girls, and the worst kind of pain I've ever experienced of grief."

The 'Rock of Ages' star was away at a bachelorette party when she found out her dogs had died.

She recalled: "I had just arrived that night and went to sleep, and I woke up before my phone even rang and I knew. And I picked up the phone, and my assistant at the time was just like screaming."

But after rushing home to have the dogs' bodies cremated, Julianne could still feel them with her.

She said: "My brother just stopped the car and the sun was pouring in, and I was totally feeling them and they were kissing me. And I was with them-I felt their souls so clearly. And that was so beautiful."