Michelle Branch Says Slapping Patrick Carney Was Not Her ‘Finest Moment’ In A New Interview

In mid-August, Michelle Branch accused husband and Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney of infidelity and Branch was arrested for hitting Carney shortly after. Then Branch filed for divorce, the domestic assault case against Branch was dismissed, and it was revealed just a couple days ago the two are putting their divorce on hold as they try to save their marriage. A lot has been happening there and now Branch has talked about it in a new interview on Tamron Hall.

During the conversation, Hall notes there was a lot of paparazzi outside the studio to see Branch that day before briefly explaining what happened between Branch and Carney. She asked what Branch wants her fans to know and Branch responded:

“My husband and I have started therapy recently, and I wish that we had started it six months ago. I wish we had gotten help and talked to someone sooner. I think it’s made such a huge difference in such a short amount of time, and so if there’s anyone out there who’s watching, this is your sign. If you’ve been thinking about it, go talk to somebody. It’s helped us immensely.

The night, what went down was so… unfortunate [laughs]. It was like the worst night of my life. And then, you know, to have to have that out in the world as I’m getting ready to put out a record has been a lot, but all I can do is be honest about what I’m going through and what’s going on. I’m not the first person to have gone through this.”

Hall then mentioned Branch’s original tweet accusing Carney of infidelity and the police report indicating Branch hit Carney. Hall noted the “allegations” of Branch slapping Carney but Branch owned up to it, laughing as she corrected Hall, “They are not allegations.” Taking a more serious tone, she continued, “Violence… I don’t condone violence. I slapped my husband. Not the finest moment of my life.”

Hall also asked what Branch is learning in therapy so far and she said:

“I mean, here I am, I’m only seven months postpartum from having a baby… Every parent in the audience knows this, you know: sleep, stress, life stress, marriage stress, work stress… definitely didn’t… and also we had been out at a birthday party that night, I had had a few drinks. All of the blocks were stacked in a way that, you know, I didn’t have time to think about really what I was doing. And it was one of those things that I was like, ‘Is this really happening? Did this really just happen?’ And you’re realizing in real time, ‘Oh, I probably shouldn’t have treated that, I probably… definitely shouldn’t have, you know, let my anger get the best of me.’

Yeah, it’s unfortunate that it took this horrible, traumatic event to hopefully… my husband and I are like, ‘Maybe this… how we were going was unsustainable, so maybe this will give us the tools to have a stronger marriage than we’ve ever had.’ So, you know, we’re rolling up our sleeves and doing the work, which [laughs] never sounds like fun, but we’re doing it.”

Check out the interview above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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