Kelsea Ballerini: Ex-Husband Took 'Half The House That He Didn’t Pay For'

Kelsea Ballerini didn’t hold back on some of the details surrounding her marriage and divorce from singer-songwriter Morgan Evans, opening up in a new interview on a soon-to-premiere episode of Call Her Daddy. The interview includes confirmation that Ballerini never wanted a wedding and that he took “half the house he didn’t pay for” in the divorce.

“I didn’t wanna have a wedding. I swore I would never get married,” Ballerini said during the podcast, per a teaser posted on Instagram which notes that the “HEARTFIRST” star met Evans when she was 22 years old and the couple got engaged nine months later. “I think he loved me more at 23, and I love me more at 29.”

Ballerini and Evans tied the knot in December 2017. They announced their divorce on their Instagram stories in August 2022, calling it quits after nearly five years of marriage. Ballerini, 29, was first to announce that she and hew now ex-husband were splitting up, saying at the time, in part: “This deeply difficult decision is the result of a journey of love, growth, and effort that ultimately has come to an end. …we are both fragile, actively healing, and showing up the best we can.”

During the upcoming podcast episode, Ballerini said things got “nasty,” as podcast host Alexandra Cooper put it, between herself and Evans, 37.

“As he’s putting out a song about being blindsided, he’s taking half the house he didn’t pay for,” Ballerini said during the podcast interview, seemingly referencing her ex's heartbreak ballad “Over For You.” “How was I married to this person for this long, and I had no idea that that bit of character was tucked within that human being?”

Ballerini recently released her own music about the divorce, an EP and accompanying short film titled Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. The 6-track collection seems to reference the house Ballerini mentioned in the interview in the song “Penthouse,” as she sings: “It hurts putting sh*t in a box/ And now we don't talk/ And it stings rolling up the welcome mat/ Knowing you got half.”

Ballerini also reflected on the fights the couple had during their marriage. She said during the episode, per PEOPLE: “There were separations, there was years of couples therapy. There was like, many a night of sleeping on the couch. I don't think it was the first night, but it was a night where I was like, this is not what I want. …I slept on the couch the night before the CMAs and I remember I went to rehearsal at the arena and texting him and being like, 'I'll just see you at the carpet.’”

The “Subject to Change” artist seemed to reference the same CMA show — during which she performed “homecoming queen?” — in “Blindsided,” another track from her new EP: “I slept on the couch and then the next night you put on your suit/I put on a smile and sang about how it's okay to cry, dying inside.”

“here’s my healing journey. here’s my heart. here’s my truth,” Ballerini shared on her social media channels when she released the EP and film — which she wrote and directed — on Valentine’s Day. “i’ve never been this open, i’ve never been this bold, and i’ve never been this proud of my art. so with love and respect, i’m rolling up the welcome mat. six song story and short film out now. happy valentine’s day. ❤️‍🩹”

The podcast teaser also shows that Ballerini fielded other questions, including whether she’s ready to date again and whether she’s single, particularly amid rumors that she’s dating Outer Banks star Chase Stokes: “Am I single? …um, nope.”

Ballerini spoke briefly about the upcoming podcast episode on TikTok, sharing that she always aimed to have a “heart-to-heart conversation” about Rolling Up The Welcome Mat and its contents. She also encouraged her social media followers to listen to the full episode rather than pulling from bits and pieces of it:

“I said when I finished Rolling Up The Welcome Mat that I wanted to do one sit-down, in-depth, heart-to-heart conversation about this record that I love so much, and the contents of it, and I just wanna put it to bed and move on. This is that conversation, and it’s really honest and it’s really in depth.

“And, it’s one of those conversations that it’s really easy to just listen to clips of and pull clickbait and all that kind of stuff, if you have the full hour when it comes out, I think you’ll get the full spectrum of everything.”