Maren Morris fans were shocked to learn on Tuesday she filed for divorce from Ryan Hurd, her husband of five years. The Grammy-winning singer filed documents on Oct. 2, which is also the date of separation listed. That implies the demise of their relationship was sudden.
“We are better at standing our ground on our personal life than we used to be, because I think we earned it now, but no, we have our struggles, but I think that we love each other. I will always support his dream, his songwriter dream and vice versa,” Morris told Entertainment Tonight earlier this year. “And so I know we can kinda make it through anything, because this is a tough industry to stay married in and even find love in so, I feel like — we hit the jackpot so everything else is, like, clear skies.”
There were signs that all wasn’t well with their relationship.
Morris was photographed without her wedding ring during a concert on Oct. 5, and again when she attended the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie premiere on Oct. 12. Neither Morris nor Hurd has commented publicly on the divorce news — but they haven’t been shy in the past about discussing their relationship. Take a look back at their love story.
September 2023
Hurd, 36, and Morris, 33, attend the U.S. Open in New York City together on Sept. 2, which appears to be their last official appearance together.
Several weeks later, when Morris announces she’s leaving country music, Hurd posts a sweet tribute on Instagram.
“She deserves to be celebrated, not just tolerated,” he writes on Sept. 20. “Most people would just shut up and keep collecting the paycheck, because the wave of vitriol is real and it’s hard. I’m so sick of watching my wife get the s*** kicked out of her by the internet. I’m sick of every talking head having some kind of stupid opinion about what she says.”
March 2022
While promoting her third album, in which her family was a huge inspiration, Morris reveals her struggle with postpartum depression. She credits Hurd with helping her get through it and says their relationship got deeper during the pandemic.
“I do check-ins all the time [with] therapy, which I’ve done for years, and my husband was a huge help diagnosing that too,” she shares, noting it eased around six months. “Sometimes it’s just someone really close to you saying, ‘Are you OK?’ It’s so simple, but it kind of snaps you out of whatever fog you’re in that you think is normal, but isn’t.”
Morris declares: “I wouldn’t have made it through with my head this high without [Hurd].” As for their relationship, she says “the most time we had ever spent with each other” was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“And we had a kid, so we were getting to know each other in a deeper way,” she adds. “We definitely got stronger.”
February 2021
Hurd and Morris release their first duet, “Chasing After You.”
“Maren and I met writing songs and we’ve sung on each other’s records and written together, but this is the first time we’ve gotten to do an actual duet together,” Hurd says in a press release. “It feels like the timing is really perfect and it’s a full-circle moment to get to make music together in this way.”
March 2020
Morris gives birth to her and Hurd’s child, a baby boy named Hayes.
October 2019
Morris announces she’s pregnant. “The irony is just too rich that after a year of living in the GIRL headspace, the universe would give us a baby boy to even things out,” she posts on Instagram, referencing her latest album. “See you in 2020, little one.”
March 2019
Morris alludes to trouble on her hit song “The Bones,” but the lyrics suggest they are working through it: “We’re in the home stretch of the high times / We took a hard left, but we’re alright / Yeah, life sure can try to put love through it, but / We built this right, so nothing’s ever gonna move it.”
In a March interview with Esquire, the singer says they went through tough times after their wedding last March.
“It was probably the hardest part of our relationship,” she recalls. “We went on our honeymoon, and then I immediately went on this gigantic tour opening for Niall Horan. It was more international touring than I had ever done. And I was gone more than I had ever been on any other tour.”
While Hurd’s “always been the guy to come to me,” Morris says it’s now her turn to “have to be the girl coming to him” as the songwriter plans to release more music under his own name.
“It was a tough summer,” she continues. “But we have grown so much closer because we had to make some hard decisions and have some tough talks about what this future looks like and how we can make this better.” She adds: “I have always loved him, but I feel like I like him in ways I never knew I could before.”
Morris says she wants “to better” herself before thinking of growing their family.
“Talking about the possibility of having kids, I would like our minds to be as doctored up before we bring another person into the world,” she notes.
March 2018
Morris and Hurd tie the knot in Nashville.
July 2017
Hurd pops the question. Morris announces their engagement on Instagram by posting a series of photos in which her diamond ring is on full display. (The post has since been deleted.)
January 2017
In an interview with People, Morris opens up about how it’s great dating another musician.
“It’s been amazing to go through this very crazy journey with someone at the same pace and lean on each other through all of those sometimes scary moments,” Morris shares as she’s getting ready to embark on her first headlining tour.
However, the “Girl” singer admits there are challenges, too.
“Our schedules are essentially opposite of one another unless we’re doing a show together or there’s an award show or something. But the upside is that you get to grow with someone,” she says. “You need someone there that gets what you’re going through. I’m lucky that he does.”
December 2015
Hurd and Morris officially start dating.
2013
The singers meet writing “Last Turn Home” for Tim McGraw.
“We were both at different publishing companies, and our publishers’ job is to fill our calendars up, so they just randomly put us together on a write one day,” Morris recalls to People years later. While “it was the start of a wonderful writing relationship,” it’s also the start of something more.
“It’s one of my favorite songs that we’ve ever been a part of. It’s just crazy to look back on that moment where we were both just songwriters, solely, and that song has held so much weight over the years. The meaning behind the song actually means more now to me and Ryan, in a weird way — years later, it sort of hit us what the song meant,” she adds.
It doesn’t turn romantic right away, though.
“We had been friends for only a couple of years, but there was always this writing chemistry in the room, and eventually, the timing of it was undeniable,” she shares. “We had such a foundation built off writing so many songs over the years that we were like, ‘Why are we avoiding this?'”
