It’s been more than two years since Carly Waddell and Evan Bass called it quits — and according to the Bachelor alum, it’s “really easy” to coparent their two kids with her former spouse.
“He’s done this before, you know what I mean? He has three older kids. The oldest one is now, like, 21 [or] 22. And the middle one’s going off to college. His kids are older, he’s raised ’em since they were babies. He knows what he is doing,” the 37-year-old “Your Friends Like Me More” singer told Us Weekly on the “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast. “They go over there every other weekend. And I remember at first I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, like, what are they doing over there?’ But now I’m just like, ‘He’s got it.’ If there’s ever a problem, like, a sickness or something, we talk about it and we work it out. But it’s not a problem. It’s very easy.”
Waddell, who told Us that she has Bella, 5, and Charlie, 3, “80 percent of the time,” recalled their divorce mediator telling the estranged couple that their children aren’t going to “remember” what it was like for their parents to be married.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of sad.’ But [now] I’m like, ‘No, that’s actually really great because, you know, if mommy gets a new boyfriend, daddy gets a new girlfriend [or] if we get married, there’s never gonna be that, like, I don’t like her because that’s not mom,’” she told Us. “That won’t be a problem for us.”
Waddell and Bass, who wed in 2017 after meeting on season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise, split in late 2020.
“I would do everything exactly the same. I really would,” she told Us. “I mean, it was hard and it sucked so bad, but it was all the right choices in the long run.”
While they put the kids first, Waddell told Us that she’s skipping pal (and fellow Bachelor Nation alum) Juelia Kinney’s wedding to Bass’ brother, Aaron, in June.
“I’m not [going] but it’s just because with the kids and the flying to Mexico. First off, they don’t have passports yet, which I could probably rush, but it’s a lot of people I haven’t seen in a very long time,” Waddell, who recently attended Kinney’s Bachelorette party, explained. “And I talked to her about it, she totally understands. I was like, ‘I don’t wanna distract from your big day.’ Because if I’m there, lots of people could be uncomfortable and we don’t need that to be the focus. So instead I’m going to FaceTime her the whole day [as] she’s getting ready. Obviously drinking champagne.”
Waddell concluded: “It’s [Evan’s] brother, it’s his family and friends and I think that takes priority.”
While her first single — “Your Friends Like Me More” — drops on Monday, May 1, Waddell told Us that the track has nothing to do with Bass or their split. (“I’m not Taylor Swift,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not about Evan! People can interpret however they want to — they’re gonna do it anyway.”)
The second song she’s set to release, “Two Little Angels,” on May 12, from her six-song EP, however, has a more personal connection.
“That’s really about my children. It’s also about, like, in a relationship should you stay together just because you have kids or not. And it doesn’t give an answer because I don’t think there’s a correct answer for that,” she told Us. “At the end of the day, you’re left with these beautiful children and it’s the greatest gift you could possibly have. … There’s a lot in there that I added in for a dramatic effect that didn’t happen.”
