Country music fans are in shock right now after singers Michael Ray and Carly Pearce announced that they are divorcing less than a year after getting married.
Reps for the couple confirmed to Fox News that Pearce, 30, filed for divorce from Ray, 32, after just eight months of marriage. They refused to give any additional comments about the situation. Insiders close to the couple, however, said that this was not a decision that they took lightly.
“This was a hard decision. It wasn’t something she wanted to have to do,” a source close to Pearce told People magazine. “This hasn’t been a quarantine realization — it was a last resort.”
The couple had last performed together on June 6 at the Grand Ole Opry with no audience present due to the coronavirus pandemic. They performed along with country music stars Steve Wariner and Lee Brice, who sat between the couple onstage.
Before this show, Ray had said that he and his wife were splitting their time in COVID-19 quarantine between their house in Nashville and their respective families’ homes. He added that they had spent a month isolating in the coastal Alabama home of Pearce’s parents, where they went on plenty of “wine walks.”
“You just drink wine and walk around a small town,” Ray said. “I don’t think I’ve ever walked more in my life. I felt like we were retired. We just didn’t have anything else to do but walk.”
Ray added that he and Pearce are so used to touring that having all of this downtime has actually been difficult for them, as they have become restless.
“It’s been a hard time for everybody,” Ray said. “But we’ve really tried to find the silver lining in it, and go, ‘We’re not getting out of this, so how do we make the most of it?'”
“Knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I didn’t settle for something less than truly the person that I think was made for me is something that I am thankful for,” Pearce said at the time, with ray adding, “No matter what, I have her in my corner. No matter what, she has me in her corner. I tell her, you’re never going to face anything alone. Never will there be anything in life that you don’t look over and I’m standing beside you.”
Pearce became an overnight sensation in the country music world when her song “Every Little Thing” was a surprise hit. Ray has also scored hit songs with tunes like “Her World or Mine,” “One That Got Away” and “Think a Little Less.”
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