Country star Darius Rucker recently spoke candidly about his 2020 separation from his wife of 20 years, Beth Leonard, and what life has been like for him thereafter.
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Although Darius and Beth had decided to remain “close friends and parenting partners” following their split, he tells People magazine in a new interview that the entire process -- from the discussions around separation to the necessary decision-making when it comes to their children -- “Hurts and you feel like a failure,” while adding the pair are actually “not officially divorced yet.”
Songwriting had helped him through the tough times he admits, explaining, “You try to express those feelings, and it’s hard to say and it’s hard to put that on paper. You try to do it as real as you can," he adds, "I’m not a big talk-to-you guy, but I can sit down and write a song about it.”
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Whether or not the estranged couple decide to finalize anything legally, Darius says the family that they have built together will remain solid. “A piece of paper is not going to change that,” he says. "We’re still a family, and that’s all because Beth is awesome. She knows it’s the best for the kids (daughter Daniella, 22, son Jack, 18, and Darius' daughter Carolyn, 28, from a previous relationship), and she’s a great human being.”
“I’m just trying to be the best dad I can be for those grown kids,” says Rucker when asked about any current romance opportunities. "I'm not thinking about that right now."
“It was tough growing up without a dad. I hated it,” he admits, raised by his mother Carolyn whom he named his brand new record, Carolyn's Boy after. “I had a lot of great father figures in my life, but not having him there was s***ty, and I don’t ever want my kids to not know where their dad is or how they can get in touch with him, because I never knew how to get in touch with mine.”
LISTEN NOW: Darius Rucker on the making of 'Caroyln's Boy'
Rucker adds, “With a job like mine, you travel a lot, but the one thing is, [my children] always know where I am. I think that’s directly from the fact that I never knew where [my father] was.”
Read the full interview HERE. Darius Rucker's Carolyn's Boy is out now.