Michelle Branch filed for divorce from Patrick Carney earlier this summer, but the two aren’t parting ways just yet. As Page Six reports, the couple recently filed an order of reconciliation.
Branch and Carney paused their divorce for six months, during which time they “may participate in counseling services to effectuate reconciliation and/or may resume living together as husband and wife,” court documents state. After six months, the couple will decide whether to reinstitute the divorce proceedings or dismiss them for good.
Branch spoke about the status of her marriage in an interviews with People and Yahoo Entertainment. “I’m still living in it right now, and it’s still changing by the hour,” she admitted to People. Speaking to Yahoo, she explained: “I mean, he’s the father of my children. I love him very much. I think in a perfect world, we’ll figure out a way to make it work. I don’t know. It’s just still so fresh and so raw. But there’s a deep friendship at the basis of our relationship. So, hopefully that will still be there, regardless of what happens in our marriage.”
Branch also said she regrets taking their marital issues public. “I definitely shouldn’t have taken to Twitter to say anything. Here I am saying, ‘Please respect our privacy,’ but I’m the one who said it to the world,” she told People. “I have to be respectful of the fact that I’m not the only person involved in this. We have very small children. I’ve promised Patrick I won’t speak about it publicly.”
Branch and Carney got married in 2019 after several years of dating and share two children. Before confirming their split in a statement to People, Branch tweeted — and deleted — the revelation that Carney cheated on her. Soon after, news broke that she had been arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic assault after allegedly slapping Carney in the face. The charges were later dropped.
In an interview on the Tamron Hall Show, Branch expressed remorse for slapping Carney. “Violence, I don’t condone violence. I slapped my husband. Not the finest moment of my life,” she said. Branch attributed the incident to being in postpartum and having had a few drinks. “All the blocks were stacked in a way I didn’t have time to think about, really, what I was doing. It was one of those things where I was like, ‘Is this really happening? Did this really just happen?’”
Branch’s latest album, The Trouble with Fever, arrives September 16th, and she’ll support it with a brief tour with support from Katelyn Tarver and Bad Bad Hats on select dates. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Branch’s recent media appearances.
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