Michelle Branch and Patrick Carney are rethinking getting a divorce one month after first announcing their split.
On Tuesday, a judge signed off on the couple’s request to suspend their divorce proceedings for six months. During that time, Branch and Carney may undergo counseling to address any ongoing issues in their marriage. And, at the end of that time period, they will decide whether or not they want to go through with the divorce. The court documents filed in Tennessee and obtained by People state, “As evidenced by the signatures below, that the parties, Michelle Jacquet Branch and Patrick James Carney, are seeking a suspension of the divorce proceedings in this cause to effect reconciliation. The parties may participate in counseling services to effectuate reconciliation and/or may resume living together as husband and wife and their acts and conduct in doing so shall not be determined condonation of any prior misconduct and all acts or actions by the parties prior to the entry of this order shall remain and constitute grounds for divorce.”
Branch first announced that she and her husband of three years had decided to go their separate ways in August, confirming the news in a statement to TMZ. “To say that I am totally devastated doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel for myself and for my family,” she said at the time. “The rug has been completely pulled from underneath me and now I must figure out how to move forward. With such small children, I ask for privacy and kindness.” Her statement came shortly after the outlet reported that Branch had accused the Black Keys member of cheating on her while she was home with their six-month-old in a since-deleted tweet. The couple are parents to two children, a four-year-old son, Rhys James, and a daughter named Willie who was born earlier this year. Branch also shares a 17-year-old, Owen Isabelle, who goes by they/them pronouns, with her ex-husband, Teddy Landau. The morning after that statement was made, Branch was taken into custody and booked for domestic assault before being released on a $1,000 bond.
While the past month has been a chaotic one in her personal life, Branch recently revealed to People that she has found solace in both therapy and music. She told the outlet, “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. Where was patron saint Stevie [Nicks] in the ether during that to be like, ‘You don’t need to share this?’” She added that seeing a professional has been a huge help, saying, “I can’t speak more highly about reaching out and talking to somebody if you need to. That—and my girlfriends—have helped me immensely. Especially given that I’m a mom and have so many things going on, making the time to talk to somebody is really important.” Branch also said that her close friend Kacey Musgraves, who went through her own very public divorce in 2020, advised her to pour it all into her work. “I feel like it’s going to be exactly what my heart needs right now,” she said of her upcoming shows. “It will be very, very cathartic. I don’t know what I would be doing if I didn’t have that distraction.”
