Sara Evans is talking about the music video for her new single "Pride" when she pauses, overcome with emotion as tears well in her eyes. The song is a powerful ode to her own strength after enduring domestic abuse in her marriage to husband Jay Barker and as they've recently reconciled, it's a topic she handles with care."He's watched the video [in which she shows the impact of abuse] with me many times. We show it to people when they come over, and my heart always... Oh, I didn't know I was going to cry," she says with a nervous laugh as she stops to collect herself. "People are going to judge me [for taking Barker back]. 'Why do you feel sorry for him?' But I know what he's feeling-he's feeling shame. But he's also being brave and being like, 'Yeah, that's the truth. I did that.'
Such self-reflection is new for Barker, Evans, 53, says. But it's part of the reason the country star has decided to give their marriage another chance after a turbulent stretch that included what she calls "accusatory" abusive behavior and his January 2022 arrest for alleged assault with a deadly weapon.
Now Evans is speaking publicly about the troubles she's faced in her marriage for the first time as she prepares to release her album Unbroke (out June 7), which chronicles their split and eventual reconciliation. She maintains that she and Barker, 51, have rebuilt a healthy relationship with the help of therapy. "My biggest fear is that people are going to judge me or be angry with me for staying with Jay and not understand the whole story," she says. "I want, more than anything, for them to understand that each marriage is different, each story is different."
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Denne historien er fra April 15, 2024-utgaven av People US.
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ACTOR ADAM PEARSON I Don't Think 'Why Me?" I Think 'Why Not Me
THE A DIFFERENT MAN STAR, WHO LIVES WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS, IS CHALLENGING HOLLYWOOD TO REFRAME DISABILITY
WHAT I KNOW NOW
NOW STARRING IN REBEL RIDGE, THE ACTOR GETS CANDID ABOUT CAREER LONGEVITY (54 YEARS IN THE BIZ!), FATHERHOOD AND SURVIVING LIFE AS AN '80S HEARTTHROB
STOUGHTON OR MURDER?
SHE WAS 23 AND EXCITEDLY EXPECTING HER FIRST CHILD WHEN SHE APPEARED TO TAKE HER OWN LIFE. NOW AUTHORITIES SUSPECT FOUL PLAY BY HER MARRIED POLICE OFFICER BOYFRIEND
JAMES MIDDLETON From Despair to Hope
IN AN EMOTIONAL NEW MEMOIR, PRINCESS KATE'S YOUNGER BROTHER OPENS UP ABOUT HIS STRUGGLE WITH DEPRESSION, LIFE WITHIN THE ROYAL ORBIT AND HOW HIS BELOVED DOG ELLA SAVED HIS LIFE
KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY TAPPING HIS INNER CHILD
FROM PLAYING WITH ROBOTS AS A KID TO VOICING BUMBLEBEE IN TRANSFORMERS ONE, THE KEY & PEELE ALUM LOVES LETTING HIS IMAGINATION RUN WILD
Ina Garten I Learned to Believe in Myself"
IN A REVEALING NEW MEMOIR, THE CELEBRITY CHEF OPENS UP ABOUT ABUSE BY HER PARENTS AND A ROCKY PERIOD IN HER MARRIAGE TO HUSBAND JEFFREY: 'DEBILITATING FEAR TAUGHT ME ENORMOUS COMPASSION'
finding peace after loss
THE NASHVILLE ACTRESS'S YOUNGER BROTHER DIED UNEXPECTEDLY JUST AS SHE WAS WORKING TO OVERCOME DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. HOW SHE'S PICKING UP THE PIECES, STAYING SOBER AND DOING HER BEST TO LOOK FORWARD
The Substance
Demi Moore is scarily good as an actress who drinks at the wrong fountain of youth
Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 Dies at 70
A founding member of the iconic group, he last performed on Sept. 8
HALLMARK STAR ASHLEY WILLIAMS Honoring Her Mom On & Off Screen
Ashley Williams's new movie Falling Together didn't start as an homage to her mother, Linda, who died from dementia in 2016; it began with a failed apartment building-wide chili party she threw years ago.