Maren Morris is calling it quits with her husband, Ryan Hurd, after five years of marriage. Page Six confirmed that she filed for divorce earlier this month on October 2nd, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. And it appears it was sudden, with the separation date matching the filing date.
It certainly came as a surprise to fans, who have watched Ryan come to Maren’s defense several times over the last few years when she’s taken a stand against issues that plague the country music industry. Most recently, he supported her on social media after she announced she was quitting country due to how toxic the industry had become, which I wrote about here.
“I’m so sick of watching my wife get the sh-t kicked out of her by the internet. I’m sick of every talking head having some kind of stupid opinion about what she says,” he wrote back in September. “She deserves a little sunshine for the burden she has carried for every artist and fan that feels the same way. I can’t wait for that first tour and to see all of the smiling and beautiful people who needed these songs and also need HER.”
Maren is asking that the court honour the prenup that was put in place, which sees to it that her separate property will be awarded to her, that joint custody will be granted to the couple and that a parenting plan will be put in place. All things considered, this should definitely help move the divorce process along.
With no signs of what, specifically, went wrong in their marriage, it’s hard to tell what prompted her to file for divorce. Maren and Ryan started dating in 2015, when Maren was 25. Two years later, they got engaged, and they were married less than a year later. They had their son, Hayes, in 2020, when Maren was 30. I’ve written before about how pivotal turning 30 can be. And I think Maren hitting that milestone has likely played a role in her deciding to walk away from her marriage.
If you’ve been following Emily Ratajkowski on TikTok, you may have heard her theory on women being married and divorced before the age of 30 as something that’s ‘chic’. While Maren is a few years past EmRata’s cut off, her case still fits the bill. According to EmRata, the benefits of divorcing before you hit 30 (or shortly after, which was also true in her split from Sebastian Bear-McClard) include having your own money and still having your whole life, and so much energy, ahead of you.
“There is nothing better than being in your 30s, still being hot, maybe having a little bit of your own money, figuring out what you want to do with your life and everything, and having tried that married fantasy and realizing that it’s maybe not all it’s cracked up to be,” she said in a TikTok that she shared around the time that Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner announced their split.
All of this is true in Maren’s case. She made a killing in country music. A lot of that had to do with the fact that she was hugely successful on mainstream radio, which isn’t always common for women country artists. With her decision to leave country, though, and head more into more of a pop music direction, that money is going to keep flowing in. She’s got her separate property, which she was sure to hold on to in her prenup, so it really is blue skies ahead, at least from a logistical standpoint, for Maren.
In terms of why she may have filed, it could be any number of reasons, but I don’t think it was infidelity. And if it wasn’t infidelity, like EmRata suggests in her video, maybe Maren realized that marriage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Recently, I shared a TikTok describing the challenges that come from not realizing you don’t want the life that society has carved out for you until it’s too late. Sometimes you don’t realize you never wanted to be a wife until there’s a ring on your finger, and some women find themselves cleaning up after children they never intended on having.
Or perhaps it's that good old matrescence, back at play here. I’ve written before about matrescence and all the revelations and power that motherhood can bring to women. But sometimes, matrescence manifests as you realizing you and your partner are completely different people. In some cases, you realize you were on different pages before having the baby; other times, it’s the baby that changes you.
Maren is not the person she was when she met Ryan eight years ago. She’s not the person she was when she tied the knot with him. And she’s definitely not the same person she was when she gave birth to their son, because motherhood really does change you. Couple that with the fact that by all accounts, she is at a very crucial turning point where she is re-examining a lot of different aspects of her life, like her decision to make a departure from country music, it’s not unlikely that marriage, and perhaps even motherhood, could absolutely be things she’s started to shift her thoughts about.
She’s built an identity for herself, and so much of that had to do with her being a country artist. It makes sense that her decision to leave country may have called the rest of that identity into question. Like many women do as they get older, she is making adjustments to that identity and refining who she is in every aspect. And age gives us the power and confidence to make those adjustments and to start refining ourselves.
There’s no telling where she will go from here, personally or professionally. And just because she’s the one filing doesn’t mean it won’t be painful. But we have seen so many women, people like Kristin Cavallari, Keke Palmer, Tia Mowry, all start to live more authentic lives after walking away from marriages and relationships that are no longer serving them. And I just can’t wait to see what that looks (and sounds) like for Maren.
