Jana Kramer and Mike Caussin are opening up to the world about their marriage, their divorce, and their formerly acrimonious post-split relationship.
Kramer was joined by her ex-husband — and former podcast co-host — on the latest episode of her Whine Down podcast, which was the first of a three-part interview between the exes.
The conversation came amid the release of her new memoir, The Next Chapter: Making Peace with Hard Memories, Finding Hope All Around Me, and Clearing Space for Good Things to Come. And it was because of the book that Kramer wanted to sit down and clear the air with her ex.
“With the book coming out, I wanted him to know that [the media] might grab a few of the stories,” Kramer said, explaining that people don’t necessarily realize “how far we’ve come” since their split in April 2021. “You don’t deserve to be defined by your past… People don’t deserve to be defined by the mistakes they’ve made.”
In her April 2021 divorce filing, Kramer accused her ex of “inappropriate marital conduct, irreconcilable differences and adultery.” The former couple are parents to daughter Jolie, 7, as well as son Jace, 4.
Kramer recalled how she was nervous about telling Caussin that she was writing a book about their turbulent split, because of the progress they’d made rebuilding their co-parenting relationship.
“We were so bad post-divorce, for a year, and then we got to a good place, and I was like, ‘I don’t want that energy again,'” she recalled.
Caussin admitted that, when he first heard about her penning her memoir, he was “skeptical,” but that “things have evolved so much” since then, he’s not nearly as worried. He even told Kramer he didn’t want to read an advanced copy.
“I trust our relationship more now than I ever have. And I believe Jana, what her point and her narrative is,” Caussin said. “If I read it, are there things that would bother me? Sure… But it was a whole different lifetime ago.”
Shortly after their split, Caussin sought treatment for sex addiction, and he said he used the opportunity to really reflect on his failed marriage to Kramer.
“I used Jana as my scapegoat… I was like, ‘If I can blame it all on her, it’s not my fault,'” Caussin said. “And that’s bulls**t.”
“I’ve never heard you say that, and I do appreciate that,” Kramer told her ex.
As for her engagement with fiancé Allan Russell — and comments from critics that Kramer is rushing into a new marriage too quickly — Caussin couldn’t disagree more.
“On paper is it too soon? Sure, whatever. But, I love Alan, a lot. I have the utmost respect for him. No one else is able to experience or witness what I am able to [between them],” Caussin shared. “From the moment I met Alan, everything has just been respectful and understanding.”
“Ultimately, I knew Jana was gonna find someone before me, and this is what I imagined it would be like — where everybody is winning,” he added. “Jana has a man who is incredible and loving and respectful and truthful… so she has what she’s looking for and I have someone who I can trust around my kids and is taking good care of the mother of my kids.”
Back in September, ET’s Cassie DiLaura spoke with Kramer — who is currently pregnant with her and Russell’s first child — about wedding planning.
“It’s kind of stressful,” Kramer told ET while at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. “We have the baby in eight weeks, we just moved into a new house there’s just a lot going on. My new book, New Chapter.”
Kramer admitted that she considered something intimate, but her love for Russell made her change her plans.
“It’s a lot because at first I was just like, ‘Let’s elope.’ We both had weddings. But for me, I want to marry this man so bad. It’s the one I really want to marry. I want that moment.”
Check out the video below for more on the happy couple.
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