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Country singer Carly Pearce has recently sat down for Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast to candidly discuss her very short-lived marriage to country singer-songwriter Michael Ray. Pearce was very transparent during the interview, admitting that she knew almost immediately that marrying Ray was a mistake. The Grammy-winning artist told Bunnie XO that her relationship with Michael Ray was based more on lust and “instant attraction” than on love. However, she confessed that she was ready to go the “distance” when they married. The former spouses announced their divorce in January 2020, less than eight months after they tied the knot.

Pearce, who was born in Kentucky, is known for her songs such as Every Little Thing and Should’ve Known Better. As Pearce and Bunnie XO chat, the Kentucky-native country singer briefly reflects on her whirlwind romance that landed her in the chapel in 2019, a year when she felt that she made the right call when she married Michael Ray. “I thought he was so cute,” Pearce continued while recalling how it all began. “I’d heard he’s the nicest guy in the world. I invited him to my No. 1 party for Every Little Thing. Looking back on it, it was a hot and heavy lust. It wasn’t love. It was just passionate.”

Pearce insisted that she got married with the right intentions, explaining, “I got married to go the distance. When I married him, it was for the right reasons.” However, Pearce notes that in hindsight, neither she nor her then-husband, Ray, had the foundational conversations that could have helped build their relationship. “We didn’t have real conversations, and we didn’t really know about each other,” Pearce says about her relationship with Ray. “We were kind of living this life that wasn’t really reality.”

Pearce admitted that it was obvious that she shouldn’t have gotten married to Michael Ray the night of the nuptials. “I knew the night I got married that I shouldn’t have,” she says. “The COVID part was a blessing in disguise because I got to deal with that in private,” added Pearce. She explained further that she’s been in a process of reframing that period of her life and has started to view the failed marriage as a blessing in disguise: “COVID was the worst. But, at the same time, it was a blessing in disguise because I got 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.”

Divorce, Separation, and Rumors

Pearce and Bunnie XO also briefly touch on a speculation that Michael Ray could have been unfaithful to Pearce during their relationship. She has since gone on to clarify her relationship with her ex and noted how the whole situation was handled. “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 know. My parents know, and God knows, and that is enough. It’s enough.”

Pearce, however, admits that the rumors and the need to publicly defend herself were hard to deal with. “It was about that time, too,” Pearce goes on to add, in reference to the rumors surrounding her split with Michael Ray. “It was like now people know my name, but I feel embarrassed because I failed at something I think a lot of people thought that I could do.”

Pearce has since picked up the pieces, she says, and is in a much better place in her life than she’s ever been. “I am in the happiest season of my life,” Pearce concludes her interview on Dumb Blonde. “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.”

The singer has said that it took her some time to become more comfortable with who she is. “I think I was really shown just how much I care about myself,” Pearce explains. “I actually really have a lot of self-worth, and that showed me that.”