Gabby Barrett has turned down duets with male musicians in order not to “jeopardize” her marriage to husband Cade Foehner. The 23-year-old country singer, who met Foehner, 27, on Season 16 of American Idol in 2018, revealed the boundaries she’s set in her own career, saying during the Unexpected with Hannah Love podcast that she doesn’t want to make her husband “uncomfortable” with any of her musical pairings.
“There’s been large song opportunities that have come in for me to duet on or be a part of, and something between myself and my husband… I respect him a ton, and I listen to what he has to say, and I think he deserves that,” Barrett explained. The “I Hope” singer continued, “There’s been songs that have been not appropriate to sing wording-wise, like these love songs that are really intimate wording-wise. And then when you accept a song, there’s obligations that go along with it, that you could sing it on awards shows together, you might be doing interviews together. What does that look like on the stage? What does that dynamic look like if I’m singing with another man? Is that gonna make my husband uncomfortable? Probably.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Barrett and Foehner tied the knot in October 2019 after a seven-month engagement, and Barrett is currently expecting their third child, a daughter, who will join the couple’s other children Baylah, 2, and Augustine, 1. “I respect him and love him so much that I am not going to jeopardize my marriage to do a duet with somebody,” Barrett continued of Foehner. “I care about this a lot more and I pray and hope and know that God will bless my efforts in trying to keep my marriage straight and not… just for a duet or whatever it is.”
Through counseling, the country couple has been told they were “strong-willed” people, which is something Barrett sees as a positive when it comes to keeping her boundaries. “I have tons of people say that to me, or have texted me, or have commented about me and said, ‘She’s ruining her career by talking about these things, and by X, Y and Z,’” she said. “Because I treasure a Godly marriage over anything the world could offer.”
