Country music stars Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, who have been married since 2013 and are parents to their beloved daughter Mercy, 8, are parting ways. The news of their divorce came as a shock to many, especially considering their deep musical connection and nearly 11 years of marriage.
Jason Isbell, aged 45, officially filed for divorce from Amanda Shires, 41, on December 15, just two months shy of their 11th wedding anniversary. Their journey together has been intertwined with music; Amanda plays the fiddle and provides backup vocals for Jason’s band, the 400 Unit, while Jason plays guitar for Amanda’s country supergroup, The Highwomen.
Despite publicly celebrating their 10th anniversary on social media in February 2023 with heartfelt messages of love and admiration, cracks in their relationship began to surface following the release of Jason’s album “Reunions” in 2020.
Their struggles were laid bare in the 2023 documentary “Running With Our Eyes Closed,” where Amanda emotionally read an email she had sent to Jason, expressing the need for marriage counselling. This documentary captured the raw emotions and challenges they faced as a couple.
Amanda, in particular, has been candid about the difficulties they encountered, revealing that the pressures of Jason’s career and the pandemic-induced isolation took a toll on their marriage. In 2020, she even temporarily moved into a hotel for space, highlighting the complexity of their relationship.
Their marital turbulence found its voice in Amanda’s song “Fault Lines,” released in 2022, where she channelled her emotions into powerful lyrics reflecting the disconnect they experienced during the pandemic. Through her music, Amanda conveyed the vulnerability and choice inherent in navigating marital challenges.
Jason, who has been sober since 2012, shared his struggles with The New York Times in 2020, admitting that the making of “Reunions” strained his relationship with Amanda. Despite their efforts to reconcile and weather the storm, the couple ultimately decided to part ways, marking the end of a chapter in their lives filled with both love and challenges.
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“It doesn’t matter if you’re a quasi-famous person like Jason or me, everybody’s relationships are the same; there’s up and downs and there’s good and bad and you just try to deal with it,” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “Life’s not easy, marriage isn’t easy, but aren’t we lucky to be able to live?”
Isbell, who has been sober since 2012, previously opened up to The New York Times in 2020 about how growing pressures during the making of Reunions had caused him to push everyone in his life away, including his wife.
“At one point, I said, ‘It’d be easier if somebody had cheated.’ Then we could say, ‘You did this,’ or ‘I did this,’ and ‘Somebody needs to be real sorry,’” Isbell said. “But it was more like, ‘We don’t know each other right now. We’re not able to speak the same language.’”
