Carly Pearce is getting candid about the marriage that inspired one of her most personal albums - and it's resurfacing now as she rolls out her latest project, Honest Woman.
In a conversation on "The Person Who Believed In Me" podcast with journalist David Begnaud, the 36-year-old country singer revealed she knew something was wrong with her marriage to fellow singer Michael Ray almost immediately. "He made it very clear that I made a very big mistake," Pearce said, describing behavior she called "a bit of Jekyll and Hyde" that she didn't recognize until after the wedding.
Pearce and Ray married in October 2019 and she filed for divorce eight months later. Rather than staying, Pearce said she trusted what she already knew. "I knew very quickly this was not what I deserved, and I blew up my life to get out of it," she shared.
What stands out most is how Pearce framed her decision to leave. "I didn't stay because my faith says divorce is bad," she said. "I was done." For an artist who has been open about her Christian upbringing, it's a striking distinction - choosing to separate faithfulness to God from staying in a harmful situation out of obligation.
The experience became the foundation for Pearce's 2024 album 29, and now shapes the more grounded, unfiltered Honest Woman, which she describes as her most truthful record yet. The title, it turns out, fits the story behind it.
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