Kelsea Ballerini Just Announced She's Divorcing Morgan Evans

Country singer Kelsea Ballerini has filed for divorce from Australian singer/songwriter Morgan Evans after almost five years of marriage. Ballerini, 28, and Evans, 37, tied the knot in 2017 after a whirlwind romance. (This comes as the prepares for this fall's Heartfirst tour. "i've really missed you. let's jump right back in together for these 10 special nights. 💛," she has said.) Read on to see what they both have to say about the sad split, and how they met.

Ballerini posted a statement on her Instagram account confirming the split. "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," she says. "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. Kels."

Ballerini and Evans did their best to save the relationship, but sadly it didn't work. "They've been working on their marriage for a very long time. Prior to this they had separated privately once before and have been in therapy for several years," a source tells PEOPLE. "They gave it their best go but unfortunately arrived at the decision to formally separate."

Evans posted his own statement on instagram confirming everything Ballerini said. "I am very sad to confirm that after almost five years of marriage, Kelsea and I are parting ways. I wish it were otherwise but sadly it is not," he said. Ballerini and Evans talked about their journey through couples therapy, and what it meant to them both. "Because of my parents' divorce and the way that they loved me through it in their own ways, I have a different idea of marriage, but I would think I have a healthier idea of marriage," Ballerini previously said. "I don't see it as a fairytale-esque, ride-off-into-the-sunset kind of thing. It's work, but it's worth it. We go to couples therapy all the time. We have really good couples friends that we vacation with, but we also can sit down with and have the hard conversations."df44d9eab23ea271ddde7545ae2c09ec

Ballerini and Evans had a whirlwind romance—they met in 2016 while co-hosting Australia's Country Music Channel Awards and Morgan proposed on Christmas Day the same year. "This morning, 9 months and 13 days later, he got down on one knee in the kitchen while I was burning pancakes and asked me to marry him," Ballerini shared with fans at the time. "Loving him has been the greatest gift of my life. And now I get to do it for life. #HeCalledDibs."

Ballerini previously spoke about her deep admiration for Evans, and how he "shows up". "We approach our relationship so differently, but he shows up — he shows up in every way he needs to," Ballerini said in November 2021. "I'm really grateful for the last year and a half, honestly, to be able to have time that we'd never had before to not just see each other once a week, but see each other every day and cook together and buy a house together and walk the dog together and just do really normal things that seem small. That was a really beautiful thing for our marriage."