COUNTRY STAR SARA EVANS Showing Strength & Finding Forgiveness

THE SINGER REFLECTS ON HER EMOTIONAL HEALING JOURNEY AFTER HER HUSBAND'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ARREST

- RACHEL DESANTIS

Sara Evans is talking about the music video for her new single "Pride" when she pauses, overcome with emotion as tears well in her eyes. The song is a powerful ode to her own strength after enduring domestic abuse in her marriage to husband Jay Barker and as they've recently reconciled, it's a topic she handles with care."He's watched the video [in which she shows the impact of abuse] with me many times. We show it to people when they come over, and my heart always... Oh, I didn't know I was going to cry," she says with a nervous laugh as she stops to collect herself. "People are going to judge me [for taking Barker back]. 'Why do you feel sorry for him?' But I know what he's feeling-he's feeling shame. But he's also being brave and being like, 'Yeah, that's the truth. I did that.'

Such self-reflection is new for Barker, Evans, 53, says. But it's part of the reason the country star has decided to give their marriage another chance after a turbulent stretch that included what she calls "accusatory" abusive behavior and his January 2022 arrest for alleged assault with a deadly weapon.

Now Evans is speaking publicly about the troubles she's faced in her marriage for the first time as she prepares to release her album Unbroke (out June 7), which chronicles their split and eventual reconciliation. She maintains that she and Barker, 51, have rebuilt a healthy relationship with the help of therapy. "My biggest fear is that people are going to judge me or be angry with me for staying with Jay and not understand the whole story," she says. "I want, more than anything, for them to understand that each marriage is different, each story is different."