Kelsea Ballerini Says She Felt ‘Really Used’ by Morgan Evans When He Released ‘Over For You’: ‘Really Opportunistic’ Timing

usmagazine.com:

Two country singers and two sides of the story. As Kelsea Ballerini’s career skyrocketed amid her marriage to Morgan Evans, some people in her inner circle questioned his intentions.“People questioned him more than they questioned me.

My friend Megan — I’ll never forget this — the first time she met him she pulled him aside and she said, ‘You have a lot more to gain from this than she does,’” the 29-year-old “Leave Me Again” songstress explained on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast on Wednesday, February 22. “I think we were in different places, you know, he’s nine years older than me and he was kind of restarting his career in the States.

I was, like, digging my heels in.”Ballerini and Evans, 37, wed in December 2017 after getting engaged within nine months of dating.

Weeks after she filed for divorce in August 2022, he debuted an emotional breakup song called “Over For You,” hinting he was blindsided by the end of his marriage.“I felt like it was really opportunistic for him to put that out when he did — when we were still going through the legalities of getting divorced,” the “Peter Pan” songstress told host Alex Cooper. “I felt really used in that moment. … His healing journey is his healing journey and I respect that, but publicly exploiting it feels a little nasty to me — before it’s final.”Ballerini has since responded via a six-song EP titled Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, released on Valentine’s Day, which explains the former couple were in therapy and had been fighting for years before pulling the plug.“Now, we’re, like, months passed it,” she explained. “I’ve taken the time to, like, actually sit in my feelings and, like, go through that grieving process and take ownership of what I brought to the table too.”As she