Zac Brown’s divorce has been a messy one – and things just keep getting worse.
The country singer and his now estranged wife, Kelly Yazdi, announced in December 2023 that they were separating after just four months of marriage.
Now, it sounds like their divorce is going to last longer than the marriage, as Zac has filed a restraining order against his ex, who in turn is dropping tea on their short-lived marriage.
And she has to say is shocking
Let’s dive in.
Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band performs during Warner Music Nashville Lunch and Performance at CRS 2022 at Omni Nashville Hotel on February 23, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)
How It All Began
Like most celebrity romances, Zac and Kelly started dating in secret.
In fact, they kept things so lowkey, no one is quite sure when they started hooking up.
That’s why it came somewhat of a shock when Zac proposed to Kelly on a 2022 trip to Hawaii.
They enjoyed a year-long engagement before marrying at a private ceremony in Georgia in August 2023.
But the marriage was doomed never to see the new year. By December, the pair had split – news that was a shocking to Zac’s fans, but also, apparently, his new bride.
Zac Brown’s Divorce: What Happened?
“We are in the process of divorce. Our mutual respect for one another remains,” the pair shared in a statement to TMZ on December 29,2023.
That “mutual respect” meant that Zac and Kelly were in no rush to share why exactly the marriage didn’t work out. The joint statement merely shared their assurances that the split was amicable.
“We wish each other the best and will always appreciate our time together. As we navigate this personal matter, we simply request privacy during this time.”
And privacy they had – until they didn’t. If you ask Zac, Kelly made the first move in making their divorce contentious when it didn’t need to be.
If you ask Kelly, well, you get a wildly different story.
Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band performs during New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park on December 31, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images)
Zac Brown Files Lawsuit & Restraining During Divorce
On May 17, 2024, Zac filed a lawsuit against his estranged wife, demanding she take down an Instagram post.
It felt like an odd move at the time, as Kelly had merely posted a sappy poem.
However, according to the Zac Brown Band frontman, her post allegedly broke a confidentiality agreement that she signed during their relationship.
To make matters worse, in court documents obtained by NBC News, Zac sought an emergency temporary restraining order that would compel her to take down the social media post.
He ultimately lost his case, leaving Kelly the opportunity to take to Instagram to share her side of the story.
And it doesn’t paint Zac in a good light.
Zac Brown Band attends the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Shortly after the proverbial muzzle came off, Kelly started to share her truth on Instagram
From what she’s written, issues complicating the path to a speedy divorce initially seemed like it something to do with the “business” of the Zac Brown Band.
Reacting to Zac’s lawsuit with a lengthy social media message she wrote:
“No one — not even Zac Brown with all of his money, power, celebrity, and lawyers may silence my right to freely express myself through art or, although I have to date declined to do so publicly, to speak about the circumstances of our pending divorce.”
The post, which she wrote via Instagram on May 20, 2024, went on from there:
“I intend to respond swiftly and robustly to his meritless complaint that [the] publication of two poems on my personal social media account divulged any ‘confidential information’ about his business, much less authorizes a court to enjoin me from speaking about matters in my personal life that have nothing to do with my brief former work for the Zac Brown Collective, Inc.”
And that’s where things took a turn.
Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band performs during day 1 of CMA Fest 2022 at Nissan Stadium on June 09, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Kelly Yazdi Defends Her Reputation From Zac Brown’s Divorce Accusations
On August 8 ,2024, Kelly returned to her Instagram to post a lengthy video explaining why folks hadn’t heard from her in awhile.
“As you may know Zach and I are getting divorced and it has been a very painful experience for me,” she began, poised to tell the whole story behind their divorce in full detail for the first time.
After being “happily together for years”, she explains that they did in fact get married in August 2023, but then helped a “private wedding party in Nashville” in November.
Then, the bombshell.
“Nine days after our wedding party, Zac unexpectedly told me over Zoom that he wanted to divorce.”
According to Kelly, no sooner did he ask for the divorce than did he also ask her to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would “prohibit me from ever talking about my life or relationship with Zach for the rest of my life.”
She refused, and a couple weeks later, she was allegedly fired from my position as executive vice president of his company.
But that’s just the beginning of Kelly’s messy tale.
Zac Brown & The ‘Beautiful Drug’ Music Video
If all of this isn’t bad enough, Kelly makes perhaps her most damning accusation against her ex yet.
“At that point, he used our wedding party video with alterations and without my consent for commercial gain and to demean my integrity,” Kelly claims, referring to the “Beautiful Drug featuring Avicii Remix” video.
“The music video includes the video from our private wedding party held in Nashville on November 18, 2023, but I was replaced in the video with a look-alike model who is cast as a reckless and irresponsible person, consuming drugs and alcohol and engaging in very risky behavior, Kelly said,
“And without judgment of some people’s struggles and their choices, the image portrayed of me is not who I am and the video completely presented me in a false way.”
Needless to say, the alleged choice to use this wedding video – which Zac and his team deny – is the reason that Kelly is continuing to speak out about their divorce so ferociously.
“I never wanted my divorce to play out publicly,” Kelly confessed. “I understand that the public has interest in celebrity relationships and that was just part of what comes with marrying a celebrity. I understood that when I married Zach, but the end of a relationship, especially when there is a huge power disparity between an ordinary, normal person against the celebrity with a large platform and vast resources is hard enough without being able to speak the truth.
Zac has yet to speak out specifically to these new claims by Kelly.
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