Maren Morris Reveals She Once Had a Panic Attack Before Opening for The Chicks amid Her Divorce

Mar. 15, 2025

Maren Morrisis looking back on a challenging year.

During an August appearance onSiriusXM’sFierce: Women in Musicshow, thesinger-songwriter, 34, opened up about the mental health struggles she endured amidher divorcefrom her ex-husband, country musicianRyan Hurd, whom shesplit from last yearafterfive years of marriage.

According to Morris, the pressures of her personal life boiled over while she was opening up forThe Chicks'2023 world tourlast fall.

“It was in Toronto last year, we were opening forThe Chicks, and a lot of things at home weren’t feeling great and I definitely, during soundcheck, had a bit of a mental … well, it’s just a panic attack,” the musician admitted. “I was able to do the show, but it was a lot of factors.”

“Sometimes life’s not waiting for you to conveniently break down when you’re at home in the comfort of your own bedroom,” she added. “Sometimes you have to put your big girl pants on and go do the show still.”

Morris also shared how difficult it was to put on a brave face while juggling her career and parenting herson, Hayes Andrew, whom she shares with Hurd. “You still have to be a mother, even though maybe everything in your life that day has imploded or that year. It’s like, you’re shielding the explosion from a 4-year-old,” the performer continued.

Morris noted that once she felt “safe” to finally let her emotions flow, she “kind of allowed myself to fall apart.” “Like once everything had ended and like everything was finalized. That’s when I was like, ‘OK, now I can cry,'” she said. “Because I feel like we have to be pretty steady through the process.”

Maren Morris visits SiriusXM Studios on August 9, 2024 in New York City.Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Later in the interview, the “Push Me Over” singer revealed that she continued to work on music during her divorce from Hurd, 37, even continuing songwriting sessions the same week she filed in October 2023.

“The week that I filed for divorce, I had writes all week, and there were people coming in from [Los Angeles] to Nashville. So I didn’t wanna cancel because they’d flown in to write with me,” she explained. “I felt like I had a responsibility even through that darkness.”

Remembering the course of events that week, Morris recalls how her friends from L.A. were like, “‘Oh my God.’ Because, you know, they didn’t know I had planned to do that that Monday.” “They were like, ‘Are you sure you wanna be here? Like, we can totally cancel,'” she recalled. “And I’m like, ‘No, I really need to be here. I can’t go home.'”

Maren Morris performs at Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Summer Festival 2024 in Austin, Texas on June 30, 2024.Hubert Vestil/Getty

Hubert Vestil/Getty

Morris echoed similar sentiments about working through her divorce during a recent interview with PEOPLE while discussing her latest EP,Intermission, which dropped on Aug. 2.

“I was writing through a lot of really tough weeks where I probably could have just canceled my sessions,” she shared, “but I’m glad that I didn’t because I wanted to be able to freshly… Even in the most heartbreaking, depressed stage, be able to document my experience that day and then find my way back to the surface through each song.”

“Those are songs that are meaningful to people, so that’s such a gift,” she concluded. “I don’t really look back on them with shame or regret. It’s like, ‘That was a really beautiful time,’ and I truly felt that way when I wrote it; it didn’t work out in the long run, but the song still matters.”

source: people.com