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Kelsea Ballerini has opened up about her “difficult” divorce from Morgan Evans, which she announced on Aug. 29. She got vulnerable during her Oct. 3 appearance on CBS Mornings and revealed her five-year marriage slowly fell apart, rather than one giant occurrence ruining it all. “It’s not chaotic, it’s not volatile, it just didn’t work,” the 29-year-old Tennessee native explained. “And that sometimes is a difficult narrative to get your head around when you’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a good person and I’m a good person and this just isn’t good anymore.’”
She also opened up about how she personally learned how to accept the end of her marriage and what healing looks like for her. “It’s easy to shame yourself and it’s easy to want to hide and I just want to be proud of myself in 10 years on this season of my life,” she noted. “This is not just a heavy time in my life, this is also a celebratory time in my life. I don’t want to shade that because that’s important to feel.”
“I think the things that I’m learning are that I’m loyal and that’s really a weird thing to say going through a divorce,” she added. “And I think loyalty is broader than your person. I think you have to start with yourself.” The “Half of my Hometown” hitmaker noted that loyalty means “showing up for” her brand new album, Subject to Change, as well as “showing up for” herself like never before.
Kelsea previously noted how tough it was for her to end her marriage during her divorce announcement. “This is now public record so I wanted you to hear from me directly that I am going through a divorce. This deeply difficult decision is the result of a journey of love, growth and effort that has ultimately come to an end,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “Its extremely difficult to find the words here, but I feel extremely grateful for the years of marriage to Morgan and hopeful for the next seasons. With very active schedules coming up, please be mindful that we are both fragile, actively healing and showing up the best we can.”
Morgan, 37, confirmed the divorce on his own Instagram Story just hours after Kelsea shared the news and hinted that he wasn’t the one who initiated the split. “I am very sad to confirm that after almost 5 years of marriage, Kelsea and I are parting ways. I wish it were otherwise but sadly it is not,” he wrote in a short statement.
In a new song the Australian singer performed about a month after the divorce news, he opened up the pain and sorrow he felt because of their separation. “How long have you been waiting to take our pictures down? How long have you been breaking, why am I just finding out?” he questioned in the opening verse. “I would’ve let go if you wanted me to, how many times did you say you love me, when it wasn’t true? I’m just wondering, how long has it been over for you?” he wondered in the chorus.
Of course, Kelsea sings about the breakup on her album, which dropped on Sept. 23, as well. Furthermore, she has changed some of the lyrics to her pre-divorce tunes to make them match her current life situation. For instance, during a New York City performance of “What I Have” in September, she changed the lyrics “I got a warm body in bed” to “I got my own body in bed.”
Kelsea and Morgan got together shortly after they co-hosted the CMC Awards in Australia in March 2016. They were engaged by December of that year and tied the knot in Mexico in Dec. 2017.
