Morgan Evans Responds To Kelsea Ballerini's Relationship Allegations

One week after Kelsea Ballerini released her tell-all EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, along with the accompanying short film, which gives insight into her seemingly less-than-perfect marriage to ex-husband and fellow country music singer-songwriter Morgan Evans, Evans has taken to social media to tell his side of the story.

“It's really sad for me to see this person, who I spent so much of my life with, and loved with all my heart, saying things that aren't reality and that leave out what really happened,” he shared. “She knows I'm not the type of guy to speak on those things publicly. If this is what she needs to heal, I hope it helps.”

The country singers first met in March 2016 while co-hosting the CMC Awards. They wed in December 2017 after a year long engagement. After almost five years of marriage, the couple called it quits in August 2022 and finalised their divorce three months later.

In a statement posted to Instagram stories on August 29, Ballerini wrote:

"Friends, I've always tried my best to share my life with you in a real and vulnerable way, while also protecting layers of my personal life as they unfold. This is now public record, so I wanted you to hear from me directly that I am going through a divorce. 

This deeply difficult decision is the result of a journey of love, growth, and effort that ultimately has come to an end. It's hard to find the words here...but I feel extremely grateful for the years of marriage to Morgan and hopeful for the next seasons. With very active schedules coming up, please be mindful that we are both fragile, actively healing, and showing up the best we can.”

Evans added his own statement, writing, “I am very sad to confirm that after almost 5 years of marriage, Kelsea and I are parting ways. I wish it were otherwise but sadly it is not.”

Earlier this week, speaking with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Ballerini discussed the "a sense of disconnection" in her marriage and there was a "lack of effort to see each other."

"I was getting resentful because any time we did see each other, I felt like I was carrying that load, and I was tired," she told Cooper. "I was just tired of showing up in that way all the time and not feeling like I was seen or matched." She continued, "There were separations. There was years of couple’s therapy. There was like, many a night of sleeping on the couch.'"

In the aftermath of their split, Evans, wrote a song inspired by his breakup with Ballerini titled Over For You. Evans debuted the song at CMC Rocks QLD in September 2022, later releasing a live version in October and then a recorded version in November. The melancholy ballad peaked at #3 on the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart.

He sings, "How long have you been waiting/To take our pictures down?/How long have you been breaking?/Why am I just finding out?"

Evans later added told Fox News Digital that he wrote the song "in the middle of it all", and that writing helped him "sort through a lot of that."

In response to the song, Ballerini told Cooper, "He’s putting out a song about being blindsided. He's taking half the house that he didn't pay for. How was I married to this person for this long and I had no idea that bit of character was tucked within that human being.”

Ballerini retaliated, directly addressing Evans’ Over For You on her EP, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. She sings, "I'd go write a song, and you'd go for a walk/We had to get drunk to ever really talk/I told you what I needed, didn't have to read my mind/So, were you blindsided or were you just blind?"

Before the release, Ballerini said in a statement, "Rolling Up The Welcome Mat was how I processed everything. It's the way I got my feelings out of my body and heart and put them to music, which is the purest way I could've handled it."

Ballerini also revealed to Cooper that she is not currently single amid rumours she is seeing actor Chase Stokes, John B in the Netflix teen drama series Outer Banks.

"Am I single?" she said with a laugh. "Am I single? God. Um… nope."

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Keep up to date with Kelsea Ballerini on her Facebook page here.
Keep up to date with Morgan Evans on his Facebook page here.