Sarah Evans and her current husband, Jay Barkerdon’t have a typical meet-cute story.
“Jay and I were introduced by a marriage counselor,” Evans, 53, explained on an episode of Tori Spellings “MisSpelling” podcast on Tuesday, April 30th. “Him and his [then]-Wife were separated. [My ex-husband] Craig [Schelske] and I sought marriage counseling because I didn’t believe in divorce.”
Evans and Schelske, 60, were married from 1993 to 2007 and have son Avery, 24, and daughters Olivia, 21, and Audrey, 19. A year after their divorce was final, the country singer tied the knot with Barker , 51. (Barker was previously married to Amy DiGiovanna from 1995 to 2007 and the two share children Andrew, Braxton and twins Sarah Ashlee and Harrison.)
The “I Could Not Ask For More” singer went on to share that Evans and Schelske attended the same marriage counseling as Barker and his ex-wife – and that therapist Joe ended up bringing Evans and Barker together, even though they usually want to keep couples together.
Sara Evans and her husband Harry “Jay” Barker have experienced ups and downs in their marriage. The country singer married Barker, a former soccer player, in 2008, a year after divorcing Craig Schelske, with whom she has three children. While she was considering her divorce, Evans’ marriage counselor introduced her to Barker, who […]
“Joe calls me and says, ‘I’ve never done this before because I’ve been trying to keep the marriage together all my life, but I don’t think you should stay with Craig because there are a lot of problems and I have someone the one I want.’ “You’re supposed to meet,” Evans recalled telling Spelling, 50, noting that she initially declined because she wasn’t interested in getting married again. However, Joe persisted. “He said, ‘Listen, when your divorce is final, call me, we’ll meet and I’ll tell you who the person is.'”
When Evans finally found out the person was Barker, a former professional football player, she decided to send him a message.
“One night I put the kids to bed, I did the dishes, I went to my home office and emailed Jay, went back to the kitchen and heard the ding on my computer and thought : ,He sat.’ “Here I am waiting for me to email him,” she joked, adding that after his first message the two just started talking “incessantly” and that the two “courted very quickly.”
After their whirlwind romance, Evans eventually moved to Mountain Brook, Alabama, to live with Barker.
“We raised our families together,” Evans gushed, noting that Barker’s children spent every other week with them while her children were there all the time because Schelske, whom she admitted never “really loved” her, simply “moved out of town.” “ and hasn’t seen her since 2014. “Thank God they had Jay. Jay stepped in and raised her and took care of her,” she said.
While Evans and Barker are now happily in love, the two have also been through their own struggles.
In August 2021, Evans filed for divorce from Barker, citing “irreconcilable differences” and “inappropriate marital behavior” on Barker’s part.
Nearly five months after filing for divorce, Barker was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was accused of attempting to use his own vehicle to hit a car in which Evans was sitting. Barker later entered a best interest plea to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and received one year of probation.
Two years after his arrest, Evans shared that she and Barker “tiptoed back to each other” and reconciled.
“We’re so happy now, but I don’t want anyone to think that I’m advocating for staying in a relationship where you always know in your gut that you have to get out of the situation,” she said on her podcast, “Diving.” in Deep” in March. “Every woman has to follow her gut feeling and do what is best for her. I believe and hope that I did.”