Darius Rucker has learned to treat himself with kindness in the years since his split from his estranged wife, Beth Leonard.
“My 50-something self is a lot more forgiving than the mid-20-something self,” the country singer, 57, shared in a recent interview on Apple Music’s “Today’s Country Radio With Kelleigh Bannen.” “You have to, because life goes on.
He continued: “Your kids are still your kids, and you have a life, and you try to make the best of it. Like I always say, [Beth’s] a saint, she’s an amazing human being, and she’s a great mom. And we get through life.” (The exes share daughter Daniela, 22, and son Jack, 18. Rucker is also father to daughter Carolyn, 27, from a previous relationship.)
Rucker and Leonard announced in July 2020 that they had parted ways after 20 years of marriage. “We remain close friends and parenting partners and continue to be each other’s biggest cheerleaders,” Rucker wrote alongside an Instagram pic of the couple at the time. “Our priority will always be our beautiful family. We have so much love in our hearts for each other and will continue to encourage growth and expansion in one other.”
While the pair have yet to finalize their split, Rucker noted that he’s learned “a lot” from the divorce process so far. “I learned how there’s help out there for people,” the South Carolina native stated. “Being raised the way I was and where I was, that’s not always [help] — and in the Black community especially, that’s frowned upon a lot, too. But I learned that there’s a lot of people out there that’ll talk to you, that’ll help you a lot.”
One thing that helped Rucker through the breakup is music, which he said has “always been my therapy.” He even drew upon his and Leonard’s separation as inspiration for the song “Never Been Over” off of his new album, Carolyn’s Boy, which was released last month.
“It’s just one of those songs and I love it,” Rucker shared. “That song, for me, when we were done with it, I was like, ‘Man, that was therapy right there.’”
The Hootie & the Blowfish frontman went on to say that he found “most of” the song’s writing process “freeing,” adding, “The chorus, you know, was pretty tough when we wrote it. You know, that ‘splitting up records’ [lyric], just that thought right there was, I was like, ‘Do we really want to say it like that?’”
He croons in the song’s chorus: “But we’ve never been splittin’ up friends / Splittin’ up records / Puttin’ up walls / Burnin’ down letters / Grass is greener cause there’s something better / Waitin’ down the line / We’ve never been a headlights weaving / Taillights fading / So long, move on / Goodbye waitin’ / Never been one last long look across your shoulder / We’ve been a lot of things / But we’ve never been over.”
Rucker added: “The more we sang it just, you know, that’s what you do. And so, that was tough. But the song, it helped me a lot. It was great to write that song.”
