Carly Pearce: Faith, Flaws, and Finding Herself in the Spotlight

Carly Pearce has learned something most people spend a lifetime figuring out: your faith doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s, and your imperfections are actually your superpower.

Speaking at her fifth annual Carly’s Closet event ahead of her CMA Fest performance on Saturday, June 7, the 36-year-old country singer opened up about how her relationship with God has shifted from the rigid beliefs of her childhood into something deeper and more generous.“I grew up in the church, and I think just my relationship with God has grown so much deeper and richer than just some of the beliefs that I learned as a kid,”she told Us Weekly.“As I’ve grown closer to God, I think there’s just been a lot less judgment and a lot more boldness, if you will, for me to just be very accepting of anybody going through a journey, because who am I to tell you anything?”

That evolution—from dogma to grace—mirrors Pearce’s broader journey in the public eye. For someone working in an industry obsessed with polish and perfection, she’s remarkably committed to showing up as her actual self. Grammy Award winner or not, the“I Hope You’re Happy Now”singer has spent the last few years being refreshingly honest about living with“crippling”obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. It’s not the kind of vulnerability that wins you a sponsorship deal, but it resonates.“When you’re vulnerable with people and you’re just honest, people want to share,”Pearce explained.“I think we live in a world where we feel like we all have to have it all together, and if you speak about things like OCD, then something’s wrong with you.”

Her willingness to crack open the doors on her mental health struggles—including her decision to dive into therapy—speaks to someone who’s figured out that strength doesn’t mean hiding your mess. It means naming it, working through it, and then helping someone else do the same.“We’re all dealing with mental health, and we’re all dealing with struggles and real-life experiences, and I want to be somebody that maybe allows somebody else to share that they need help, or go talk to somebody,”she said.

That authenticity extends to how she’s rebuilt herself after her 2020 split from ex-husband Michael Ray. Rather than disappearing or pretending the marriage never happened, Pearce addressed it head-on in May during an episode of the“Person Who Believed in Me”podcast, describing a troubling dynamic she hadn’t seen coming. What she’s found instead is a deep friendship with fellow country singer Kelsea Ballerini, 32, who’s been her anchor since they met as teenagers just starting in the industry.“Truly, we’ve been friends since she was barely 19 and I was like 22. She’s my sister in this industry,”Pearce said of Ballerini.

The through-line here is simple but radical: Pearce has chosen to embrace the weird, quirky, imperfect version of herself rather than chase the version she thinks she’s supposed to be.“I’ve learned [to] embrace the imperfections and embrace what makes you you, what makes you quirky. I am weird. I am very odd, and I love that. I think life is too short to try to live in a pursuit of perfection because it’s never going to happen.”In an industry where reinvention is currency and authenticity is often just marketing, that’s the bravest choice she could make.