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Carly Pearce doesn't want to be a mother following her divorce from Michael Ray - and that's OK.
"Maybe some of you out here are like me. I always feel bad saying that I actually don't want children," Pearce, 36, confessed via a Tuesday, July 21, TikTok video. "I love children. I love my friends' children. I'm a great aunt. But it was never my dream."
The "Honest Woman" singer explained, "My dream was to pursue country music and live on the road. I know that some people do that and they're great at it. But it has never been my dream."
Pearce revealed that she thinks our culture at large should "normalize people that truly know they don't want kids," adding that parenthood shouldn't be "for everyone just because society tells us to."
Celebrities Who've Said They Don't Want Children: Carly Pearce and More
"So, I don't want children and I'm totally OK with that," she concluded.
While Pearce revealed that having children isn't on her bucket list, she said she's open to the possibility of walking down the wedding aisle for a second time.
"I absolutely want to get married again and intend to get married again," Pearce told her followers, responding to a question about the topic. "And will never let my past hinder me from doing that again."
The country singer noted, "So what, I was divorced? It was my start-up marriage and now I get to have the real one."
Pearce was previously married to fellow musician Ray, 38, for eight months before she filed for divorce in June 2020. The pair finalized the divorce that September and Pearce has slowly rebuilt her life while shedding light on why she left Ray.
Carly Pearce Candidly Addresses Michael Ray Divorce: ‘I Felt Like I Failed'
"There's a bit of Jekyll and Hyde … that I did not see until it was too late," Pearce revealed during a May episode of the "Person Who Believed In Me" podcast, referring to Robert Louis Stevenson's character Dr. Jekyll and his evil alter ego Mr. Hyde.
The Grammy winner said she realized on their wedding night that it was already over.
"He made it very clear that I made a very big mistake," Pearce recalled. "I blew up my life to get out of it. I didn't stay because society tells you [that] you should. I didn't stay because my faith says divorce is bad. I didn't stay because it's public. I was done."
Ray addressed their breakup during a 2023 episode of the "Bobby Cast" podcast, explaining, "We didn't do counseling, we didn't do any of that beforehand, and I think that - there was moments, that I look back now and I'm like, ‘Why didn't I speak up on that?' That was one of the first times I realized that her and I are opposite."
He added, "I didn't show up after our wedding day, because by that point in time, there was a lot of stuff that she didn't show up for. And it was just kind of like - there was stuff that happened that day where I was like, ‘I'm done. I'm out.'"
Carly Pearce Shares Biggest Lesson She's Learned After Michael Ray Split
Since her split from Ray, Pearce has worked on herself and found a way to open her heart to the possibility of finding love again, eventually hard-launching her new relationship in July 2025.
"I am who I am, and I think when you're in the public eye, it can be easy to kind of do this and want to maybe do what other people are doing because it's the flavor of the moment, but I'm really proud of myself that especially right now in my life, I am just myself and not trying to do anything else," Pearce exclusively told Us one year later.
She shared in June, "I've learned [to] embrace the imperfections and embrace what makes you you, what makes you quirky. I am weird. I am very odd, and I love that. I think life is too short to try to live in a pursuit of perfection because it's never going to happen."
