Zac Brown and Wife Shelly Announce Separation After 12 Years of Marriage

Zac Brown and his wife, Shelly, have announced they are separating after 12 years of marriage. The couple shared the news in a joint statement to PEOPLE magazine.

“We feel blessed to be on such an incredible journey in life and sometimes the journey begins to lead in different directions,” the statement read. “It is with deep love and respect that we announce we are separating as a couple.”

“We have led a whirlwind life together growing into a beautiful family with five amazing children and while life will be rearranging a bit, our love and commitment to our family will always be there,” they continued. “This was a difficult decision, but we’ve done plenty of tough things together and this is our next venture — love, mutual respect, and care for each other are what we are moving forward with.”

The couple, who wed in 2006, are parents to sons Justice and Alexander, and daughters Lucy, Georgia and Joni. Their children range in ages from 11 to four.

“Family comes in all different forms,” they concluded in the statement. “We would like to ask that rather than commenting or spending any energy towards this, that you take this moment to send love to your family, in honor of ours.”

Brown and Shelly met right after Shelly finished college, when Brown’s date suddenly backed out on New Year’s Eve.

“We ended up New Year’s Eve playing a show,” Brown previously recalled to his former record label, Big Machine. “My date had stood me up and I remember walking back to my friends with like two minutes before midnight and thinking, ‘I’m not gonna have anybody to kiss on New Year’s.’ And there she was, standing right there and I remember kissing her and then that was game over.”

Brown will likely remain just as active in his children’s lives, since he previously revealed he traveled with his family on the road, choosing to homeschool so he can spend more time with his sons and daughters.

“Family comes out whenever we know it’s gonna be steady on a run that’s continuous,” he told BMLG. “You know if I’m chartering in and out and flying home at four in the morning or three in the morning after I play and then drive to the airport, that doesn’t make sense. But where we can bus and go there then we’ll bring the family out and get to spend time with them during the day.”

The Zac Brown Band released their latest album, Welcome Home, in 2017.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Rick Diamond