Inside Jason Aldean and Brittany Kerr’s Love Story
Jason Aldean previously said “You Make It Easy,” his 20th chart-topping single, reminds him of his wife, Brittany Kerr. But…
Jason Aldean and Brittany Aldean; Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Jason Aldean previously said “You Make It Easy,” his 20th chart-topping single, reminds him of his wife, Brittany Kerr. But things haven’t always been easy for the couple.
When they met in September of 2012, Aldean was married to his high school sweetheart Jessica Ussery, with whom he has two daughters; Keeley (born 2003) and Kendyl (born 2007). The award-winning singer was photographed at a Hollywood bar getting cozy with Kerr, who was a Charlotte Bobcats cheerleader at the time.
Negative headlines poured in and photographs of the pair were soon plastered all over the internet and gossip magazines. Aldean quickly took to Facebook to apologize.
“The truth is that I screwed up,” Aldean wrote. “I had too much to drink, let the party get out of hand and acted inappropriately at a bar. I left alone, caught the bus to our next show and that’s the end of the story. I ultimately ended up embarrassing my family and myself.”
Kerr also issued a statement, calling her actions a “lapse in judgment.”
In the months that followed, it appeared as if Aldean and Ussery were working to save their marriage.
“Family’s good, we’re workin’ through it,” Aldean told E! News a few weeks after the scandal. “We’re tryin’ to move on, that’s the biggest thing. And, hopefully, people will allow us the privacy to do that—and that’s kinda it.”
Ussery even walked the red carpet with Aldean at the CMA Awards in November 2012, but by April 2013, Aldean had filed for divorce.
“This is a really tough time for my entire family. Jessica and I have been together since we were teenagers. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs over the years as we grew up together as a couple,” Aldean told People in a statement. “She will always be important to me because she is the mother of my children, and I know that we will both always make our daughters our number one priority.”
About a year later, Aldean and Kerr went public with their relationship, walking the red carpet together for the first time at the 2014 CMT Music Awards. They began popping up all over each other’s Instagram feeds and so did the negative comments. The negativity drove Aldean to post a message to his critics.
“So sick of people judging me and @brittanylkerr over things they know nothing about,” he wrote. “I have made mistakes but I am a better person because of it, and wouldn’t change a thing. I’m happier than I have ever been, so thank u to all the people who support us. We are happy and life goes on. Its time to move on people.”
Aldean and Kerr continued their relationship, despite the negativity from online trolls.
They got engaged in September 2014 while visiting the San Diego Zoo. “My heart has never been more full of happiness and love,” Kerr posted on Instagram after the proposal.
When it was time to make things official, the couple opted for a destination wedding.
Surrounded by close family and friends, including country singer Tyler Farr and Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson, Aldean and Kerr wed on March 21, 2015 at the Mahekal Beach Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
“This is the best day ever,” Aldean gushed to Us Weekly. “I’ve got my girl here, my friends, my family—it’s the best day ever!”
The newlyweds were excited to grow their family but unfortunately encountered some troubles along the way. After trying to conceive naturally for about a year and a half, Kerr was diagnosed with endometriosis. Once doctors performed a laparoscopy to remove tissue and treat the endometriosis, Kerr was able to conceive their son Memphis through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“The IVF was probably harder than the actual pregnancy, for me, because it was just such a roller coaster and so difficult,” Kerr told the Babes and Babies podcast in 2018. “It’s such high highs and such low lows, and no one really knows that you’re going through it all so you have to just put on a game face and pretend that you’re not giving yourself shots in your stomach every day, all day.”
Prior to Memphis’ arrival, Aldean and Kerr faced the unimaginable when they found themselves in the midst of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Aldean was headlining the Las Vegas-based Route 91 Harvest Festival when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 58 people and injuring nearly 500 concertgoers.
Aldean and Kerr made it out physically unharmed, but the heartache and pain from that day will live with them forever.
In the days after the massacre, Kerr took to Instagram to recount the horrific experience.
“When the gunfire started, I was not with Jason, but with some friends in a tent close to Mandalay,” she explained. “As you can imagine my first instinct was to run to him and his was the same. As we laid behind equipment onstage with some of our road family, bullets flying past … all I could think was ‘I never even got to hold my baby.’”
The couple returned to Vegas a week later to visit the shooting victims.
“I was glad we went out there, but it was tough to see people laying there that had been at our show a few days before and went to have a great time and never asked for that,” Aldean shared during an industry panel about overcoming obstacles in 2019. “Knowing they were there to see us, and that’s how they left, to me, it was gut-wrenching.”
Following months of heartache, the couple was overjoyed with emotions when Baby Memphis entered the world on December 1, 2017.
“So blessed today to see my little man come into the world,” Aldean captioned a photo introducing his son. “In a year that has been a rollercoaster ride, this is what its all about. I cant wait to see what life has in store for this kid.”
Not long after Memphis was born, the couple decided to grow their family once more with the help of IVF. In the summer of 2018, they announced that Kerr was pregnant again.
“After having our son, we knew we wanted to have two kids,” Aldean told People. “I have my two older daughters already, so after Memphis was born we knew we wanted to have another one pretty quick — to go ahead and knock it out and have one that was a little closer in age to him.”
Their daughter, Navy Rome, was born on February 4, 2019. “Today our family became complete,” the father of four shared to Instagram following her arrival.
Jason and Brittany often share photos of their adorable family on Instagram. Two kids and years after saying “I do,” their love is stronger than ever.
Written by
Lauren Jo Black
Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.