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Carly Pearce has shared a first-hand account of how she knew the night she got married that her marriage wouldn’t last. In an interview on Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Pearce acknowledged that she didn’t feel right about the whole thing from the very beginning. She says that her marriage to country singer Michael Ray was based more on lust than real love, which contributed to their divorce just eight months later.

Pearce, who is best known for her hit singles Every Little Thing and Should’ve Known Better, married Michael Ray in 2019. During an interview on Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the Kentucky-born singer shared that their whirlwind romance made her believe that she was making the right decision. “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. Looking back on it, it was a hot and heavy lust. It wasn’t love. It was just passionate,” Pearce said.

Despite her private reservations, the Grammy-nominated artist assured that she took marriage to Michael Ray seriously. “I got married to go the distance. When I married him, it was for the right reasons,” she said. However, she also said that looking back, she realized that both she and Ray didn’t do the necessary work to make the relationship last. “We didn’t have real conversations, and we didn’t really know about each other. We were kind of living this life that wasn’t really reality,” she added.

Pearce also said that she knew on the day of their wedding that she shouldn’t have gotten married to Michael Ray. “I knew the night I got married that I shouldn’t have. And then, having COVID right after the wedding was a blessing in disguise, 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 said.

Pearce filed for divorce in 2020, only eight months after she and Michael Ray exchanged wedding vows. The country singer hasn’t really given further details on the demise of their marriage, but said that it didn’t take her long to realize that their marriage wasn’t what she thought it would be. “It wasn’t what I signed up for. It just wasn’t the marriage that I knew 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,” Pearce stated.

During her appearance on Bunnie XO’s podcast Dumb Blonde, Pearce and Bunnie XO also discussed a rumor that Michael Ray cheated during their relationship. Pearce did not comment on the allegations but admitted that it hurt her to read some of the comments about herself and her ex-husband. “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,” she said.

Pearce also admitted that the entire experience forced her to work on self-love. She also said that her divorce taught her to value herself. “I am in the happiest season of my life. 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,” she added.

Pearce said her divorce was a wake-up call. She came to learn 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,” Pearce said.

Pearce has found love again. She is currently married to fellow country singer Mitchell Tenpenny. The divorce taught her not to focus on regrets but to be grateful that she no longer has to be a part of a relationship that doesn’t work. “I’m not mad at that experience. Like, I was embarrassed and heartbroken. Now I’m just thankful that I’m in a place that I’m like, ‘You’re not the guy for me.’ … I would have regretted not giving it a real shot,” she said.