It’s the end of the road for Lauren Alaina and Alex Hopkins. The American Idol alum, 24, and her high school sweetheart, 23, have called off their engagement and ended their six-year relationship.
Alaina and Hopkins announced the split in a joint statement posted to their respective Instagram accounts on Monday, January 21. “Over the last several years, you have been so supportive of us through all of our ups and downs, including personal struggles with health and family, and we couldn’t be more grateful,” they told fans. “You share your lives with us, and we always want to be open with you in return.”
The exes continued: “We want you to let you know that we have decided to call off our engagement. While we still have love for each other, we’ve grown into very different people over the last six years. We are now in a place where we are each looking forward to starting our own fresh, new chapters of our lives.”
“We both love and respect each other and hope you all will do the same,” they concluded. “This has not been an easy decision, but we both feel it is the right decision. Thank you always for your love and support.”
On her post, Alaina added, “I don’t regret a single second with Alex. I wish him the very best. Please do the same.” And on his, Hopkins wrote, “As badly as we wanted to make it work, and as hard as we fought to stay together, she and I just weren’t a part of each other’s perfect plan for our individual lives. And that’s ok. She and I get to focus solely on ourselves and our different futures for the first time since high school.”
The pair started dating in October 2012 and announced their engagement in July 2018. That August, Alaina exclusively told Us Weekly that she and her longtime love had talked about marriage but that she was still surprised when he proposed.
“We haven’t picked a date or anything yet,” the country star said at the time. “I think it will probably be a long engagement. We’re just in a place in our lives where we’re really busy, so getting on top of that seems nearly impossible. … We’ve obviously started the conversation. It’s a real thing now.”
Alaina came in second place on American Idol’s 10th season in 2011, finishing behind Scotty McCreery.
