.

In one of the most vulnerable interviews of her life, singer Carly Pearce shared that she knew her marriage to fellow country music artist Michael Ray was a mistake the night she got married. The Grammy winner shared in a recent episode of Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast that she knew in her heart Ray was “the wrong decision” for her.

The Kentucky native, who is famous for her songs like Every Little Thing and Should’ve Known Better, said the love of her life is her daughter. “I was not very good at being married in that. But I was married because I was in love with him, and I just wasn’t in love,” Pearce said of Ray.

Recalling that night eight months ago, Carly Pearce shared, “He was so cute. I thought he was so cute. I heard he was the nicest guy in the world. I invited him to my No. 1 party for Every Little Thing. Looking back on it now, it was just hot and heavy lust, right? It was not love. It was just passionate.”

She added, “I got married to go the distance. When I married him, I married him for the right reasons.” Pearce also shared that she is at peace with the decision she made to leave her husband, admitting, “I feel like we both failed each other, to be honest, with not having a real relationship. We didn’t have real conversations. We didn’t really know about each other. It was kind of this, we were living life that wasn’t really real.”

Carly Pearce continued, “When I married him, I thought it was the right decision. But, I knew the night I got married that I shouldn’t have,” adding, “Thank God 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, because I was embarrassed when it happened. And then I had shame around that because I was heartbroken and embarrassed that it happened to me.”

Pearce and Ray filed for divorce in 2020. The former couple have since moved on, with Michael Ray finding a new love. As for Carly Pearce, she says she is very happy right now, and although she is not 100 percent sure what made her realize that the marriage would not last, she does know what she deserves from a partner. “I knew that very quickly. It was like plenty happened to where it was very clear to me this was not this. This just wasn’t a marriage. It wasn’t what I signed up for,” she noted.

Pearce and Bunnie XO also spoke briefly about rumors of Ray cheating on her during the course of their relationship. While the Grammy winner didn’t confirm or deny the claim, she did express frustration that it had come to a point where she was forced to set the record straight. “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,” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “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 added, “I am in the happiest season of my life.” “If I ever see 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 some things that made me better now. I don’t wish evil on him. I don’t wish anything on him. I’m so glad that I’m not in that anymore,” she concluded.

For the singer, the failed marriage made her realize how much she values herself. “I think I was really shown just how much I care about myself. I actually really have a lot of self-worth, and that showed me that,” she admitted.