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Carly Pearce didn’t waste much time after she tied the knot with fellow country singer Michael Ray before filing for divorce last year. In an interview on Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the Grammy winner reveals that she had known in the back of her mind that her hasty marriage was a mistake the night she got married.

Pearce also opened up about the factors that drove their whirlwind romance and how it all happened so fast. “I thought he was so cute. I’d heard he’s the nicest guy in the world. I invited him to my No. 1 party for Every Little Thing,” Pearce said, when talking about their courtship. “Looking back on it, it was a hot and heavy lust. It wasn’t love. It was just passionate.”

The Kentucky-native didn’t completely rule out the possibility of them working things out and being a couple. “I got married to go the distance. When I married him, it was for the right reasons. We had good intentions to make it work. He was my first kiss,” she clarified. However, she also admitted that they were a “complete failure at a relationship” because they “didn’t have real conversations” and “didn’t really know about each other.”

In a lengthy response, Pearce then continued: “We were kind of living this life that wasn’t really reality, because at the end of the day when we got married we were both working, living, and not together. I think getting married we did not have the actual building blocks of a strong foundation that you need for a relationship to start in a marriage.”

Pearce then gave an insight into her thoughts the night she got married: “I knew the night I got married that I shouldn’t have.” “I can remember walking down the aisle that day, and I knew in my gut. I was like, ‘I shouldn’t be doing this,” she added before further explaining how COVID-19 has been the best thing that has happened to her. “I think the best thing that ever happened to me was COVID because it allowed me to deal with that in private. I probably would have stayed in it longer if I could have avoided it and not had to. … I was embarrassed when it happened … and I had shame around that and was heartbroken,” she told Bunnie.

Divorce and Alleged Affair

Carly Pearce and Michael Ray tied the knot in July 2019 and only eight months later, the singer filed for divorce in 2020. While she has never been forthcoming about what caused the split, the “Every Little Thing” singer explained, “It wasn’t what I signed up for. It just wasn’t the marriage that I know I deserved. I knew that very quickly. Plenty happened to where it was very clear to me this was not, this just wasn’t a marriage.”

During the episode of Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the singer and Bunnie briefly touched on the alleged rumors about Ray cheating on Carly Pearce. “I mean people have all their opinions and, at first, that was so hard for me because I was like, ‘That’s not true, that’s not true, that’s not true. What he’s saying isn’t true.’ But, at the end of the day, my friends who walked that with me, they know. My parents know and God knows and that is enough. It’s enough.”

Pearce seems to have finally moved on with her life and found her happiness. She says that their failed marriage had taught her to value herself. “I am in the happiest season of my life,” the “Clove Ring” singer shared. “If I ever saw him, if he ever watches this, thank you, because you taught me more about myself. You taught me how strong I am. You put me through things that have made me better now. And I don’t wish him evil. I don’t wish anything on him. I’m so glad that I’m not in that anymore.”

“It’s true. I never want to be there again,” the country singer also told Bunnie as she also added: “I think I was really shown just how much I care about me. I actually really have a lot of self-worth, and that showed me that.”