Carly Pearce Talks About “Hard-Launching” New Relationship On Instagram Regardless Of People’s Opinions: “I Don’t Care Anymore”

Dumb Blonde Podcast/@carlypearce

Opening up about her dating life.

This week, Carly Pearce appeared on BunnieXO’s The Dumb Blonde Podcast this week, getting deep about various aspects of her life, notably her divorce from fellow country artist Michael Ray, which she has never spoken so in-depth about before.

Bunnie asked her about how they met, which Carly admitted she was the one who “slid into” Michael’s DM’s because she thought he was cute and had heard a lot of good things about him from mutual connections. This was very early in her career, around the time her 2017 song “Every Little Thing” went #1 and became her first commercial success, and Carly admitted that Ray’s career was very much on the up and up, and she was finally just starting to get a little bit of traction.

They had a whirlwind romance, but were ultimately only married for about eight months in total, from October 2019 until she filed for divorce in June of 2020. She has said before that her entire 29: Written In Stone album was about the end of that relationship, and it’s clear that it didn’t end on great terms. They’ve both been in several relationships since her marriage ended, as has Michael Ray, but Carly talked about some of the criticism she has received for the people she has dated since then.

She recently “hard launched” her new man on Instagram, and Bunnie asked if they were serious. Carly said they were, and that she is still surprised she found him on a dating app called Raya (which is a private dating app mostly used by celebrities and influencers):

“We’re serious. Again, the stigmas people put on women, I was like, ‘I’m 35, I’m never gonna meet somebody.’ And it’s like oh, it’s so funny. I’m happier than ever, and I met him on a dating app. Don’t think that you can’t. Raya, girl.”

She explained that people online, mostly, have been harsh with their comments about her dating life (which they largely know nothing about). But Carly says she’s “really happy now,” and has learned to stop caring about the opinions of others who think she has dated so many people because there’s something wrong with her that her marriage didn’t work:

“It’s also, like, awful… I just didn’t think you could meet a real person on Raya. I don’t know, I just felt like, how am I going to be able to meet somebody who is aligned with me?

He’s not in any kind of entertainment, which is the best thing ever. But I’m really happy, and again, I’m in this season of my life where I’m like, I don’t care what you think about me. Because for so long, it was like, well everybody thinks I’m dating so many people and there’s something wrong with me because my relationship didn’t work.

And it’s like, absolutely not. I had launched it because I don’t care anymore. I’m like, I’m sorry, I’ve had a few relationships since my marriage… isn’t that the point? It’s not like I’ve married six people.”

Carly and Bunnie discussed how judgmental people can be, and how she’s just learning at 35 to ignore that and live her life, which is part of the reason she decided to make it official on Instagram.

Of course, doing what she does for a living, people online especially are inclined to share their two cents about her life, but hopefully this time it will work out in the long run, and if not, I’m sure she’ll be just fine either way.