Carly Pearce’s ex-husband is country singer Michael Ray. They married in October 2019, she filed for divorce in June 2020 after eight months, and the divorce was finalized that September.
The Carly Pearce ex husband story is unusual for how one-sided the public telling is. Pearce has processed the marriage across two albums and years of interviews; Ray has said almost nothing on the record. That asymmetry shapes everything below, and it is worth keeping in mind while reading.
A Marriage That Ended on Its First Night
The two met in 2018, and by Pearce’s own telling the pursuit was hers: “I thought he was so cute, I had heard he’s the nicest guy in the world,” she said of sliding into his DMs and inviting him to her number-one party for “Every Little Thing,” per iHeart’s account of her Dumb Blonde interview.
They wed in October 2019. On a 2025 podcast with David Begnaud, Pearce said she knew that very night it was a mistake: “There’s a bit of Jekyll and Hyde that I did not see until it was too late,” she said, per People. Eight months later she filed, and she credits the pandemic with letting her fall apart in private: “The best thing that ever happened to me was COVID because it allowed me to deal with that in private. I think that I probably would have stayed in it longer if I could have avoided it.”
Two Albums and One Sentence That Sums It Up
Pearce turned the divorce into her 2021 album 29, six songs written, she says, because she is “not a good communicator in real life.” The sentence that carries her whole account came in the Begnaud interview: “I knew very quickly this was not what I deserved, and I blew up my life to get out of it.”
Processing a divorce through the work itself has become its own small genre; travel writer Anna Kloots did it with a memoir where Pearce did it with a tracklist. Fans in r/CountryMusicStuff greeted the latest round of interviews with a knowing nod to her breakout hit:
“Well it can be hard to move on when you remember every little thing, every little thing.”
– r/CountryMusicStuff, September 2025 (122 upvotes)
When Bunnie Xo asked directly about infidelity rumors, Pearce answered sideways but unmistakably: “‘What He Didn’t Do’ wasn’t written just out of thin air. The album 29 wasn’t… It wasn’t good. It wasn’t good.”
The “Jolene” Question
The most-quoted exchange from the Dumb Blonde interview came when Bunnie Xo asked whether another woman had been her “Jolene.” Pearce’s reply: “Let’s just say, I’m not a fan of her. I’m not a fan of him. I could’ve done so much more than I did.” She added that watching someone from “a really dark season” later “blow it up on the internet” was hard to sit with.
She named no one, and no outlet has confirmed an identity. Fan communities filled the blank themselves:
“She’s talking about Tyler Tritt, yes. They were publicly together right after the divorce and it was always implied he was seeing her while they were still married.”
– r/CelebWivesNash2, August 2025 (39 upvotes)
That identification is fan speculation, not reporting, and it stays in that column here. Worth stating plainly on the other side of the ledger: Ray has never publicly admitted infidelity, and when People sought comment on Pearce’s 2025 interview, his representatives gave none.
Where Both Are Now
Michael Ray has not remarried. He went public with TV personality Audrina Patridge in the summer of 2024, confirmed with an Instagram post covered by Entertainment Tonight.
Pearce met entrepreneur Jordan Karcher on the dating app Raya, marked their first anniversary at the end of April, and hard-launched the relationship on Instagram in July 2025 with the caption “I guess this is what the kids call a ‘hard launch’ these days.” Her message to her ex, delivered through the Bunnie Xo interview, was closing-the-book stuff: “Thank you because you taught me more about myself. You taught me how strong I am. I don’t wish him evil.”
FAQ
Is Michael Ray married now?
No. Michael Ray has not remarried since his 2020 divorce from Carly Pearce. He has been publicly dating TV personality Audrina Patridge since the summer of 2024.
Who is Michael Ray’s first wife?
Carly Pearce is Michael Ray’s first and only wife. Their marriage lasted from October 2019 until she filed for divorce in June 2020, with the split finalized that September.
What was Carly Pearce diagnosed with?
Carly Pearce has recurrent pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining around the heart, which she discussed on the Dumb Blonde podcast alongside her history with anxiety and OCD.
Is Carly Pearce in a relationship?
Yes. Carly Pearce has been dating entrepreneur Jordan Karcher since around April 2025, a relationship she made Instagram-official that July and calls the happiest season of her life.
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