0:00

Heya, friends. Welcome to Trashy

0:02

Divorces, everybody's favorite good podcast

0:04

about bad relationships. I'm

0:06

Alicia. And my name is Stacey. Thank

0:08

you so much for joining us today for another

0:11

tale of marital misadventure. And

0:13

this one implicates People magazine.

0:15

Who are you bringing us this week, Stacey? This

0:17

is country singer Jason Aldean,

0:19

who's been in the news lately for trying to

0:22

destroy tourism in America's small towns

0:24

by threatening visitors who may stop in them. It's

0:27

a weird flex, but as we'll see, the guys

0:29

basically joined the ranks of influencers who stoke

0:32

anger to make a buck. So hey, it

0:34

beats working for a living. Alicia, before we

0:36

get started, is that a magic mirror

0:38

that I see? It is. And today

0:41

we want to thank the newest members of

0:43

the Trash Panda Nation

0:44

who joined us over at patreon.com slash

0:47

trashy divorces, getting early ad

0:49

free episodes, bonus divorces, all

0:51

of our limited series, Zoom salons,

0:53

so much, much more. Huge.

0:56

Thanks and praise and love too.

0:58

Thanks for joining us, Beverly B, Laura

1:00

V and Amy B. Holy cats.

1:02

Y'all are amazing. Y'all are amazing for

1:04

tuning in today.

1:06

Stacey, if we're going to try that in a small

1:08

town, what do we have to do? We're going to have

1:10

to go, go, go.

1:23

So Stacey, you're going a little country and Western

1:26

today on us. Well, country. I don't

1:28

know about Western. Friends, as

1:30

you can imagine, we get a lot of suggestions

1:32

for subjects up in here. We have two

1:35

pinned posts in our Facebook discussion

1:37

group asking for suggestions. And I

1:39

want to say between the two of them, there are something like 2000

1:42

comments.

1:43

No shortage is my point,

1:45

but

1:46

sometimes one of our prospective subjects

1:48

hops into the headlines in a way that

1:50

makes it impossible to think about anything,

1:53

but is extremely trashy divorce and

1:55

an increasingly gross second marriage. So

1:58

today I'm going to talk about. Country

2:00

music star Jason Aldean. Huzzah!

2:04

I particularly want to thank Peace Eagle

2:06

Amy and Over on Threads Jesily 1981

2:08

for bringing him

2:11

back to our attention.

2:13

Jason spent a number of years kicking around

2:15

Nashville and environs before his big

2:17

breakout ten fifteen years ago, we'll

2:20

get to all that.

2:21

But he's made himself a real spectacle this month

2:23

when he released a song and accompanying video

2:26

called Try That in a Small Town. This

2:29

thing has variously been described as controversial

2:32

and a pro-lynching anthem. He did not

2:34

like that one.

2:36

NPR says that it is part of a long legacy

2:38

with a very dark side. The Washington

2:40

Post says that the message in Try

2:42

That in a Small Town is clear. Essentially

2:46

threatening scary city folk, which

2:48

of course is often code for black people,

2:51

from coming to small towns to pull their city

2:53

stuff.

2:54

I can verify that for the most part city

2:56

stuff is trying to figure out how to use your debit card

2:59

with whichever card reader tech the store

3:01

that you're in is using. Do you swipe it? Do

3:03

you tap it? Do you insert it? You

3:06

just never know.

3:08

Anyway, apparently in small towns

3:10

the good old boys may

3:12

be waiting to make sure that you find out

3:15

how that tech works. I'm not sure. It's

3:18

unclear.

3:19

It's good stuff is what I'm saying.

3:21

And it definitely does not in any way reinforce

3:23

the violent messaging that we've all become a

3:26

bit numb to from various influencers

3:28

and influencer politicians. So

3:31

with all that said, let's talk about

3:33

the amazing family values deeply.

3:36

Small town American values really

3:38

of Jason Aldean Williams, late

3:41

of Nashville, Tennessee, population 689,447,

3:46

and his long journey from modest

3:49

family man to slick, rich musical

3:51

provocateur.

3:53

Let's do this. Jason

3:55

quite famously was born in Macon, Georgia. The 1980

3:58

population was 160.

3:59

16,896 on February 28, 1977, almost a leap year baby.

4:01

Pisces.

4:08

And a Pisces, Pisces and almost a leap

4:10

year baby.

4:11

And it sounds like he had a fairly typical 80s

4:13

kid life. His parents separated

4:15

when he was three. And so growing

4:18

up, he would spend the school year with his mom and Macon

4:21

where he attended the private Windsor Academy.

4:23

He was a star baseball player in high school

4:26

and he would summer with his father in the Miami

4:28

suburb of Homestead, Florida, 1980 population 20,668,

4:31

but it's literally 20 minutes from Miami,

4:36

where his musical talent was nurtured in

4:38

classic latchkey kid fashion. His

4:40

dad of course worked and in the mornings

4:43

dad would write out chords and chord progressions

4:45

in a notebook and then show Jason

4:47

where to put his fingers so he could spend the day practicing

4:50

guitar. When dad got home from work,

4:52

they would play together. That's kind of

4:54

cool. That is kind of cool.

4:56

Jason explained in an NPR interview that

4:59

his dad and his uncle would hang out and

5:01

sing old Merle Haggard and

5:03

George Jones songs

5:05

and that he started with music mostly so that

5:07

he could be in that room with them. But

5:09

his talent was real. And in a few months he

5:11

was teaching his father things.

5:13

How the tables have turned. How

5:16

the student has become the master. When he

5:18

got to high school, he also started playing

5:20

out and was winning various talent contests

5:23

around Georgia.

5:24

At the age of 15, he was picked up as

5:26

part of the house band at the Macon Club, Nashville

5:29

South.

5:30

That establishment is gone, but there is

5:32

a historic marker on the site today that notes

5:35

that Nashville South is where Jason

5:37

Aldean and Razzie Bailey were

5:39

discovered. Which is sort of true,

5:41

maybe also overstated depending on

5:44

which version of his bio you read. Nashville

5:46

South is where Jason, then of course

5:49

Jason Williams, altered his

5:51

middle name, Aldean, Aldean,

5:57

in order to avoid confusion with that other

5:59

Williams family. in country music. Oh

6:01

well, that makes sense. Somewhat prominent.

6:05

After graduating high school in 1995

6:07

and with the backing of his father,

6:09

whose occupation now is described as agent

6:12

and producer, I'm not sure what it was

6:14

when he was a child, Jason and his band

6:16

started touring around the South and into the Midwest

6:18

as well as writing original music.

6:21

In 1998, after playing a set of originals

6:24

at a showcase in Atlanta,

6:26

population 496,461, he was discovered by a publishing agent from Nashville,

6:32

which is where his boots landed next there

6:35

in 1998. Alicia

6:37

Nashville is a tough town for an unknown

6:40

songwriter-performer trying to break through.

6:43

And friends, I think we've amply demonstrated this

6:45

in stories of everyone from Elvis Presley

6:47

to Billy Ray Cyrus. I mean,

6:49

it's a competitive place. No doubt.

6:52

And it was no walk in the park for Jason Aldean.

6:55

Opportunities arose and then vanished.

6:57

Contracts were signed and then dropped. Talent

7:00

scouts didn't appear at showcases where

7:02

they were supposed to be. And

7:04

after a few years of this, Jason, who

7:06

had married his high school sweetheart, Jessica

7:08

in 2001, she's like two years

7:10

younger than he is,

7:12

he was giving serious thought to abandoning

7:14

the musical project and moving back to Georgia

7:16

to start a more sensible career to take care of

7:19

his family.

7:20

This was especially true after their first daughter

7:22

was born in 2003. Yeah.

7:24

Got to give up that country music dream.

7:27

Sometimes, sometimes you gotta. But

7:29

in the same year, hey,

7:31

Nashville's Broken Bow Records took a shine

7:33

to him and signed him.

7:35

He released a self-titled debut in 2005.

7:38

And

7:38

this included his first number one song

7:41

and his first three top 10 hits. Suddenly,

7:44

Jason Aldean was a rising star winning

7:46

the top new male vocalist award at the 2006

7:49

ACM Awards

7:51

and moving more than a million copies of his debut.

7:53

I mean, big, big stuff. Wow. Good

7:56

stuff. His 2007 follow-up

7:58

went platinum and had several. top 10

8:00

hits and just like that we

8:02

have another in our long line of overnight

8:05

successes. I'm putting big air quotes

8:08

around that after you know a decade

8:10

or more of hard work

8:12

and harder living to get there. On

8:14

the home front Jessica took care

8:16

of a lot of the business and financial stuff

8:18

that was less to Jason's interests which

8:21

is another very common division of duties

8:23

in a relationship where one partner is

8:25

an aspiring or successful creative.

8:28

They had another daughter in 2007 and Jason

8:31

extended his string of hit records

8:33

and singles with the albums wide open in 2009 and

8:35

My Kind of Party

8:37

in 2010 which led to

8:39

his first CMA for album of the year

8:42

in 2011.

8:43

This sold more than 2.7 million

8:45

copies on the strength

8:47

of a Kelly Clarkson duet called Don't

8:50

You Want to Stay and this monster single

8:52

called

8:52

Dirt Road Anthem. Ah

8:55

friends let us retire to the

8:57

later days of the year 2012 when in

8:59

September Jason posed in

9:01

his doorway for a People magazine

9:04

cover story dated October 7, 2012

9:07

called At Home with Jason Aldean penned

9:10

by Eileen Finan. The

9:12

piece was part of the pre-release media blitz

9:15

ahead of the release of his fifth album Night

9:17

Train. The piece begins

9:19

thusly it's 8 p.m at Jason

9:22

Aldean's house and the singer is in the midst

9:24

of his favorite nightly performance horseplay

9:26

with his daughters who are at this point nine

9:29

and five. His wife Jessica says

9:31

he gets in the bed and they wrestle and jump all

9:33

over him and get in tickle matches. When

9:38

things quiet down the family snuggles up and

9:40

says a prayer together before the girls turn

9:42

in.

9:43

Jason says all four of us are there and

9:45

it's one of my favorite parts of the day. I

9:47

love the simple stuff

9:49

that I didn't always get to do before all

9:51

this happened. He's meeting all of

9:53

his success like he used to be on the road for like 200 dates

9:56

a year and

9:57

now that he's

9:58

playing too big or audience. he's

10:01

able to be at home more. This is so wholesome.

10:04

Tickle matches, ice cream, prayers. Let

10:07

me share the wholesome, we even

10:09

get into the homemade foods they love to eat as

10:12

a family. I love it. The interview takes

10:13

place at an 18 acre parcel outside

10:16

of Nashville,

10:17

which the family owned. The family was living

10:19

in a four bedroom, 5,000 square

10:21

foot house that the article assures, quote,

10:24

isn't the lavish show place you might

10:26

expect.

10:27

Jason explains that it feels downright

10:30

princely to him, saying, I

10:32

grew up most of my life in an 800 square

10:34

foot apartment.

10:35

The first house we bought was 1500 square feet and

10:38

I thought I was in a mansion. This is

10:40

all I need.

10:42

Well, that and the

10:43

Florida beach house in a 1300

10:45

acre tract of farmland he'd picked up elsewhere

10:47

in Tennessee, but it's hard

10:49

to begrudge a guy with three platinum albums

10:51

under his belt, a beach house, which probably

10:54

also put him closer to his dad, right?

10:57

I mean, he goes on to reminisce about spending

10:59

time on a cousin's farm when he was a kid fishing

11:02

and riding horses and talks

11:04

about wanting to make sure that his daughters stay

11:06

down to earth. Quote, I don't want

11:09

them to grow up only knowing riding around in

11:11

a limo and flying in a private jet.

11:13

It's cool, but it's a luxury.

11:15

I want them to appreciate tying a hook

11:17

to your line. This is so

11:19

relatable, Jason. So wholesome.

11:22

Yes, we learned that Jason coaches his daughter's

11:24

softball team and that one of his

11:26

daughters is obsessed with the toy aisle

11:29

at Target. Mm,

11:31

so relatable. Jason takes the girls

11:33

to school when he's home and the

11:35

homemade dinner favorites for the family include

11:37

roasts with potatoes and Jess's

11:40

mac and cheese. Oh, I bet Jess's

11:42

mac and cheese would

11:44

blow your mind.

11:45

I'm sure it is killer mac and cheese. The

11:48

article

11:48

closes with Jason saying, I

11:50

feel blessed by success, but I don't want

11:52

to lose focus of what's important.

11:54

I know it's not gonna last forever, so I

11:57

just want to enjoy being here.

11:59

Ah, shit. Shucks good values

12:02

what wholesomeness what authenticity

12:04

I'm sorry my imaginary

12:06

earpiece is suddenly flooded with

12:08

breaking news Alicia. What could go wrong?

12:11

Oh my god on September 30th 2012 stepping

12:14

all over the publicity to promote the new

12:16

album TMZ blasts an article

12:18

and photos under the headline Country

12:21

star Jason Aldean hot and heavy

12:23

with American Idol chick who's

12:25

not his wife. Oh Oh

12:30

Hey, let's take a

12:32

break here and when we come back we're gonna talk

12:34

about the first

12:36

of Jason's mini scandals

12:37

and image Reinventions, let's

12:39

say see on the flip

12:42

in theaters, July 28 Welcome

12:45

to the haunted mansion you read ever

12:47

mind blown. We have 999 happy

12:51

haunts, but there's room for more

12:54

we can be trapped here for eternity There's

12:56

no turning back now Madame

12:58

the older we need your help. I can

13:01

show you but it will cost you three

13:03

dollars What time and robbery

13:05

who said that Disney's haunted mansion

13:07

ready PG-13 may be inappropriate for children under 13

13:10

only in theaters July 28 get tickets now

13:12

trash pandas. Can I tell you about my

13:14

new favorite morning routine? I used to

13:16

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13:18

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13:21

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I gave AG one a try because middle age

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13:48

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13:56

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13:58

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14:02

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14:04

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14:06

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14:40

right, we've turned the album

14:43

over. What happens now? Oh boy. This

14:45

isn't good. I bet Jessica is mad.

14:48

Alicia, our Tennessean

14:49

by way of Georgia hero

14:51

Jason Aldean, was out in Los Angeles,

14:53

population 3.8 million, on the

14:56

sunset strip at a bar called The Den,

14:58

where he was caught on camera

15:00

canoodling and smooching with a former

15:02

American Idol contestant turned

15:05

basketball cheerleader named Brittany

15:07

Kerr. J'accuse! Wow.

15:11

It was a big scandal. He took

15:13

to Facebook right away

15:14

the morning after the events,

15:16

sort of the same dateline, to post

15:19

a fairly decent apology, actually. He said,

15:21

Hey guys, I wanted to talk to you

15:23

directly so you were hearing the truth from me

15:25

and not just reading allegations made about

15:28

my personal life on gossip websites.

15:30

TMZ. The truth is that I

15:33

screwed up.

15:33

I had too much to drink, let the party get

15:35

out of hand, and acted inappropriately

15:38

at a bar.

15:39

I left alone, caught the bus to our

15:41

next show, and that's the end of the story. I

15:43

ultimately ended up embarrassing my family

15:46

and myself.

15:47

I'm not perfect and I'm sorry for disappointing

15:49

you guys. I really appreciate being

15:51

able to work through this privately with my family

15:54

and for all of your continued support. Not

15:57

a, not a bad, sure, not a

15:59

bad statement? Not a bad statement. Does he work

16:01

through it? Well, I would add that when I looked

16:04

this up on Facebook to make sure

16:06

I had it correctly, one

16:08

of my uncles had liked it along

16:10

with 288,000 other people. Wow. But as for it being the end of the story,

16:13

in fact, it

16:17

was not at all

16:18

the end of the story. And here

16:20

we are. Shall we meet? Yes.

16:23

Priti Kerr? 100%. Yes.

16:25

She of the brief stint on the 2012 season

16:27

of American Idol, born June 19,

16:31

1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

16:33

She was a high school cheerleader who got a

16:35

degree in human environmental science

16:37

from the University of Alabama.

16:39

What is human environmental science? I

16:42

think it's one of the sort of

16:44

build your own major

16:46

situations like you study

16:48

a lot of different disciplines. Obviously, you do

16:50

the core curriculum, but then you're sort

16:53

of tailoring a major to fit the

16:55

career path you want to chart for yourself. And what

16:57

career path is that?

16:58

American Idol cheerleader? I don't

17:01

see. Oh gosh, I'm so excited. I don't know if

17:03

when she was in college, the term influencer

17:05

had really been established, but I

17:08

believe her career path

17:09

basically was influencer. Hey,

17:11

here's a weird fact. She did

17:14

not make the BAM-a-chair squad again,

17:16

high school cheerleader, because and

17:18

I am not making this up. She was thought to be

17:21

too, quote, tall and lanky.

17:24

Perhaps to that point in 2010, she entered a

17:26

Victoria's Secret

17:27

Model Search contest and placed in the

17:29

top 80. She also overcame

17:31

these tall and lanky disadvantages

17:33

later to perform. Can you

17:35

imagine? You're too

17:38

good looking.

17:39

Too tall. To cheer for BAM-a. Wow.

17:43

So she also overcame these

17:45

tall and lanky disadvantages later to perform

17:47

with the

17:48

Charlotte Bobcats Lady Cats

17:51

dance team in 2011 and 2012. It's

17:53

an NBA affiliate. I guess

17:55

does the NBA have a minor league? Anyway,

17:59

this is all

17:59

Also when she was auditioning for American

18:02

Idol, where she made it to the Hollywood round but

18:04

was cut before the

18:05

main audience performances started. But

18:08

clearly Britney was a person who had

18:10

a plan for her life.

18:12

And when she met Jason Aldean, maybe she

18:14

realized that she could finally see a clear

18:17

path to fame and fortune.

18:19

Sure, she was forced off of Twitter by

18:21

a torrent of abuse from country music fans,

18:23

mad that she had tarnished the rep

18:25

of one of their wholesome heroes, but surely

18:28

that would be a short-term issue that could

18:30

be dealt with. In

18:33

November 2012, about six weeks after

18:35

the scandal erupted, Jason

18:38

and poor Jessica sat down with CBS

18:40

this morning. Jason explained,

18:43

I think we're fine. I think any time you go through anything

18:45

like, I mean, it's tough.

18:47

We've been together for a long time and through a lot

18:50

of things together.

18:51

Those are things that most people get to deal with in private,

18:53

but we did not have the luxury of doing that.

18:56

No, because you let yourself get filmed

18:58

making out in a bar across

19:01

the country, dude. He

19:03

continues, I would say go

19:05

ask any couple that's been married for 30, 40, 50 years. I

19:09

guarantee, and then Jess

19:11

chimes in, I would love to hear

19:13

their story. And Jason continues,

19:15

it hasn't always been roses. I

19:18

guess it wasn't because in April of 2013,

19:20

Jason filed for divorce after

19:23

a dozen years of marriage. Reconcilable

19:26

differences. While the

19:28

filing itself is public, we check

19:31

show notes on trashy divorces.com

19:34

for links to everything. It

19:36

is basically a request for the court to

19:38

approve the forthcoming divorce agreement

19:41

and parenting plan and to incorporate

19:43

those into the final decree of divorce. In

19:46

essence,

19:46

it's just alerting the court that they are working

19:48

out these details. They're negotiating together

19:51

behind the scenes and they

19:53

would not need a trial is basically.

19:56

Okay. Also, credit

19:59

to Jess. What's pretty clear,

20:02

you know, from our vantage point today is that

20:04

Jason and Britney were still very much in touch,

20:07

possibly physically touching, and

20:09

had fallen in love with each other. And

20:11

Jess would hardly be the first wife

20:13

of a celebrity cheater to take the opportunity

20:16

to talk some trash about said cheater in

20:18

the press.

20:20

But they had young daughters and

20:21

presumably Jason was open to a

20:23

very generous settlement. So

20:25

she quietly went her separate way and

20:28

shortly after the divorce was finalized about

20:30

a year later,

20:31

Jason was hitting the red carpets with Britney

20:33

Kerr. Why not? Some of

20:35

the headlines are so weird because it's like

20:38

Jason Aldean and ex-mistress arrive

20:41

on and like- No! Why

20:43

like she's not the-

20:45

I mean, I suppose it's true, I guess, that she's the

20:47

ex-mistress just now. Future wife?

20:50

Transmogrified into girlfriend. Anyway,

20:54

the public's reaction was about what

20:56

you would expect. It was not amazing.

20:58

Britney's social feeds, once again, were

21:01

filled with toxic bilge,

21:03

as you would expect. But this time, Jason

21:05

angrily stepped in to support her, posting

21:07

to Instagram, so sick

21:09

of people judging me and Britney over things

21:11

they know nothing about. I have

21:13

made mistakes, but I'm a better person because

21:16

of it and wouldn't change a thing. I'm

21:18

happier than I've ever been. So thank

21:20

you to all the people who support us. We

21:22

are happy and life goes on. It's

21:24

time to move on, people. Okay.

21:28

Hashtag Aldean Army. Hashtag

21:30

old news. Hashtag time to move

21:32

on.

21:34

Just aggressive hashtagging there, I love it.

21:36

Later, he would tell Billboard, It's been

21:38

two years of this shit. Get over

21:40

it already. Which, I

21:43

mean, I guess. Life

21:45

goes on. It does. People

21:47

divorce. People remarry. People, it

21:49

happens. It's a take.

21:52

There was even a May 2014 Instagram

21:54

incident where a website called the Nashville

21:57

Gab reported that Jess dropped

21:59

into a post.

21:59

about the two with a few of her own thoughts. I

22:03

will say that only the Nashville

22:05

gab felt confident in definitively

22:08

stating that this account was definitely

22:12

Jess, the ex-wife. So I

22:14

don't know, this could be some rando. Did she

22:16

share her mac and cheese recipe? She

22:19

did not. So this, this

22:21

is from the alleged possible

22:23

ex-wife of Jason Aldean or perhaps

22:26

not. This

22:26

was written on an Aldean army Instagram

22:29

post.

22:30

Had to comment. Just sitting back watching

22:32

God work. Karma.

22:38

Whoa. Sorry. Start

22:40

from the beginning. That's great. Whether or not

22:42

this is allegedly her. I love

22:45

where this sentiment

22:45

is going. Okay. So the post reads,

22:48

had to comment. Just sitting back

22:50

watching God work. They have created

22:53

their own mess. L O L funny.

22:55

Everyone does have an opinion.

22:58

People still have morals too, but

23:00

we know the truth. My

23:02

kids do. Most importantly, God

23:04

does. This was too funny. Happiness

23:07

isn't made from lies and destruction of

23:09

innocent people. I don't care.

23:12

I know the whole truth. 20 years

23:14

worth.

23:15

And then she tags Brittany

23:16

again.

23:17

Could be Jess, could be not Jess. Who

23:20

knows? Of course it gets

23:22

better. In September of 2014,

23:24

perhaps marking their dating anniversary,

23:27

they got engaged. Although once again,

23:30

this relationship

23:30

news seemed to coincide with the

23:32

release of Jason's next album called

23:35

Old Boots, New Dirt. Oh.

23:39

Okay. Yeah. They

23:42

married on a beach in Mexico in

23:44

March of 2015 and Jason's

23:46

daughters were present for the ceremony. From

23:49

there, they seem to have both gotten themselves pretty

23:51

radicalized, honestly. So

23:54

let's take another break here. And

23:56

when we come back, we will finish up with

23:58

the wild influencer. drama that has

24:01

infested Jason,

24:02

perhaps courtesy of Britney, and Jason's

24:06

ever better career ever since. Back

24:08

in a minute. You know that fresh

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there, this is Josh Horowitz. This week on

24:43

the Happy, Say, Confused podcast, legendary

24:46

filmmaker Christopher Nolan on

24:49

his new film Oppenheimer, and whether

24:51

he direct a James Bond movie next.

24:54

You can also listen to recent episodes of Happy,

24:56

Say, Confused with guests

24:57

like Mission Impossible star Hailey Atwell and

25:00

Indiana Jones director James Mangold. The

25:03

best guest talking about the film and TV

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you are obsessed with. Search for Happy,

25:08

Say, Confused on your podcast app.

25:12

Alicia, the couple marked their first

25:14

Halloween together. They're in 2015

25:17

with Jason and Blackface as

25:19

Lil Wayne, the dreadlock.

25:22

No, just no. With

25:24

Brittany beside him, she apparently

25:27

helped

25:28

paint his face

25:29

with cornrows and

25:30

throwing some kind of gang sign

25:31

or imaginary gang sign most likely.

25:34

It went over as well as you would expect, but

25:36

Jason kind of mumbled his way through

25:38

the controversy,

25:40

sort of apologizing if people

25:42

were offended, but also sort of saying,

25:44

this is a paraphrase, I don't have a quote

25:46

from him, but

25:47

the point was, well, everything offends

25:50

somebody was kind of his reaction.

25:53

This trashy divorces ride really does take

25:55

you a lot of places. I've learned a lot in

25:57

the story. A lot. Not

25:59

terribly. long after Jason and Brittany

26:01

announced that they were expecting their first child

26:04

and his third child. In 2017

26:06

Jason was on stage at the Route 91

26:09

Harvest Festival in Las Vegas

26:11

on October 1st of that year when

26:14

a dude with a bunch of high-powered rifles

26:16

opened fire from above from his

26:18

room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel

26:20

across

26:21

the street. This killed 60 people,

26:23

left 867 people injured.

26:24

This was between

26:27

the shootings and shrapnel

26:30

and whatever and the rush to escape. It's

26:32

just sheer and utter tragedy. It's terrible.

26:35

Jason himself and band members

26:38

obviously ran to the backstage area.

26:40

I will say Jason has raised

26:43

a lot of money for a number of charitable causes

26:45

over the years including breast cancer.

26:48

So he released a song later that month

26:50

and the proceeds went to support the victims

26:52

of this horrific massacre.

26:55

Horrific massacre.

26:57

He also at the time had

26:59

some thoughts about Americans' access

27:01

to guns in the aftermath of this

27:04

shooting telling the Associated Press,

27:07

it's too easy to get guns first

27:09

and foremost.

27:10

When you can walk in somewhere and you can get one

27:12

in five minutes, do a background check

27:14

that takes five minutes. Like how in-depth

27:16

is that background check? Those are

27:18

the issues I have. It's not necessarily

27:21

the guns themselves or that I don't think

27:23

people should have guns. I have a lot of them.

27:26

Sounds like he's arguing for common sense gun

27:28

legislation. It does. I feel like the background

27:30

check thing is something that polls at like 90%. However,

27:34

I don't know if he still believes that

27:36

or if he would say that he still

27:39

believes that if he were asked today. Brittany,

27:42

who was quite pregnant at this point, was

27:44

also backstage.

27:46

Fortunately, she was unharmed.

27:48

Their baby was born in December and

27:50

in the summer of 2018, the couple announced

27:52

that another little one was on the way.

27:55

And Alicia, do you remember that

27:57

quaint little 5,000 square foot four

27:59

bedroom house? he'd been photographed in for

28:01

People magazine back in 2012. I'm dreaming

28:03

of the mac and cheese, of course I remember it. You

28:06

are

28:06

dreaming of the mac and cheese, I know you. Yes,

28:08

well, maybe Jessica got that in the

28:11

divorce, because upon announcing another

28:13

baby was on the way, Jason listed

28:16

a 9,000 square foot, six bedroom, 8.5 bathroom place

28:18

on 120 or so acres,

28:22

complete with a bowling alley, in-law

28:24

quarters, a 10,000 square foot horse facility,

28:26

a pool, and an outdoor entertainment

28:29

area for $7.87 million. Wow.

28:33

Brittany, meanwhile, posted a photo of a lot

28:35

being cleared to her Instagram, writing,

28:39

And so our new journey begins. We've

28:41

decided to build our dream home in

28:43

Tennessee. Looking at the land,

28:45

it's hard not to envision a place where our

28:47

babies will run, laugh, and play with

28:49

each other for so many years to come.

28:52

I can hardly wait to hear those little feet

28:54

running down the halls. Very cute.

28:57

So quaint. So quaint.

28:59

We will get to those new digs in a moment,

29:01

but let's talk real quick about

29:04

Brittany's kind of mean girl Instagram

29:06

usage. Everything for the gram,

29:08

am I right?

29:09

As well as her business with her sister and

29:12

a high profile feud, she sparked by punching

29:14

down at trans people for absolutely

29:16

no reason.

29:17

First, Brittany seems to have started a hair extension

29:20

business somewhere along the line. This was $399 for 16 inch

29:23

extensions, or

29:27

you could bump up to $499 for 22 inch extensions

29:31

in more than 10 color options. Oh, 10

29:34

color options. I think that

29:36

closed at the start of this year. I'm not sure why

29:38

the

29:39

extensions thing wasn't working. In 2021,

29:42

she and her sister launched a clothing line for

29:44

apparently Trump dead enders

29:46

selling shirts that say conspiracy theorist,

29:49

or there's a kids version conspiracy

29:52

theorist in training. Oh, no. Another

29:55

one has mamas don't let your babies grow

29:57

up to be liberals.

29:59

What happened to baby? clothes with like tugboats

30:01

and airplanes and giraffes

30:03

and stuff. Maybe you should consider

30:05

getting your baby a close the fucking border

30:08

shirt. No, I know.

30:10

What? How about a nobody likes an asshole?

30:13

Do they fit cats? Because

30:16

that would be a great shirt for Edmund. There

30:19

are more, I'm just highlights,

30:22

lowlights. You

30:23

pick what you feel like. So I'm

30:26

personally becoming less and less mystified

30:28

about

30:29

how her husband

30:30

has opted to threaten vigilantism

30:32

against most of his fellow Americans in

30:34

his latest song.

30:36

I mean, he's married to a literal conflict

30:38

entrepreneur.

30:39

And in fact,

30:40

he models several of the shirts on

30:42

the store's website. Sure, of course he does.

30:45

Supportive husband. Anyway,

30:47

all of that probably helps to explain why in

30:50

August of 2022,

30:52

posting a clip of herself putting on makeup

30:54

while listening to Beyonce, who I'm sure

30:57

was delighted.

30:58

She mentioned, quote, I'd really like to thank my parents

31:00

for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy

31:03

phase.

31:03

I love this girly life. Poor

31:05

Beyonce gets slung up in it all. Remember

31:08

the Taylor and Kanye thing?

31:10

Like Beyonce is the Forrest

31:12

Gump of why am I just haphazardly

31:14

in the middle of this? Well, and poor

31:17

Britney, presumably she feels

31:19

that she is so impressionable and

31:21

unsure of herself that

31:23

if other people labeled her something that she

31:26

isn't, it will

31:26

make her into that. So

31:29

perhaps it's just too bad that people didn't

31:31

tell her that she's a kinder and more

31:34

curious and more temperamentally generous

31:36

person than she seems to be

31:38

because maybe she would have been that. Anyway,

31:41

this kicked off a social media feud with several

31:44

other artists, most notably country singer,

31:46

Maren Morris,

31:47

a successful solo performer and one

31:49

quarter

31:50

of the high women. Yeah, I don't think you mess

31:52

with them. Who responded on Twitter,

31:55

it's so easy to like not

31:57

be a scumbag human. So

31:59

true. And then she continued, sell your

32:01

clippins and zip it in Surrection

32:04

Barbie. Nope. Okay.

32:06

Yeah, Jason backed his wife in

32:09

this particular dispute. Of course. He's

32:11

also trolled. Maren Morris

32:14

at shows since always

32:16

gets a lusty boo when he brings

32:19

up her name. Spicy. So

32:21

this was back when you may

32:23

recall Tucker Carlson used to have a job. So

32:26

he of course invited Brittany, the hot

32:28

nut Kardashian from Nashville on

32:30

to explain how victimized

32:31

she is in the segment.

32:34

I mean, come on, it's Tucker. Oh gee, conflict

32:37

entrepreneur and apparent country music

32:39

musicologist.

32:41

Tucker referred to Maren Morris as a

32:43

lunatic country music person. Maren,

32:46

of course, turned around, put that on t-shirts

32:48

and raised more than $150,000 for Trans Lifeline and GLAAD's transgender

32:53

media program.

32:54

And that's how you turn it around. That

32:57

is how you handle that friends.

33:00

Oh, and Jason got dropped by his PR firm over it.

33:03

Wow. So many family values.

33:06

So many family values. So Brittany rode

33:08

the wave of clicks for a while, but once

33:11

those clicks began diminishing,

33:12

she decided to take a stand by burning

33:15

a bunch of clothes and accessories.

33:18

Whose clothes and accessories? Alicia, I'm hoping

33:20

you can help me with the pronunciation of this

33:22

brand. I assume this is mostly sold in

33:24

small towns and, you know, being a city slicker

33:27

myself, I may not be pronouncing

33:29

it right. Can I show it to you

33:31

and you can tell me how to... Okay,

33:34

I'm still laughing over spicy, but you

33:36

are in fact pointing to the word Balenciaga.

33:39

I think that's the

33:40

brand for Dollar General, a family dollar?

33:42

I think it sounds... It sounds fancy for

33:44

a downscale brand that you might

33:46

find at

33:48

the local shop. I watched

33:50

Schitt's Creek. I know what the... Betty's

33:53

Blouse Barn. Yeah, the Blouse Barn. Weird,

33:57

right? Oh, wait. Oh, Balenciaga.

34:00

Kanye West's old brand partner,

34:02

golly, I knew it would come to

34:04

me. So it turns out that Britney

34:06

owned a lot of Balenciaga gear

34:09

and in December of last year, many will

34:11

recall, there was outrage over what

34:13

was a really, truly terrible marketing

34:16

campaign that had kids holding bondage

34:18

themed teddy bears or something. It was very,

34:21

very strange, very poorly

34:24

planned and

34:25

rightly sparked anger. Oh yeah,

34:27

it was a terrible campaign. How

34:29

that got through anybody's

34:32

production meetings, I'll never know. I

34:35

guess if you want to make sure everybody

34:37

just forgets that you used to work with Kanye,

34:40

that's the worst. Good

34:42

way for people to stop talking about it. Worst

34:44

way to clear the board, but they didn't.

34:46

Anyway, Britney posted a picture

34:48

of herself hauling out, let me

34:51

be clear, they were two clear trash

34:53

bags because you have to make sure that people

34:55

can see the logo. All the stuff.

34:58

Throwing it away, captioning it, it's trash day.

35:02

Page six notes that the bags appear to contain thousands

35:04

of dollars worth of items.

35:06

On the lavish living note, let's talk

35:09

about the new 20,000 square

35:10

foot home that Jason and Britney built

35:12

in Nashville. They moved in in

35:14

June of 2020 and the home, according

35:17

to Cheat Sheet,

35:18

boasts eight bars, a bowling alley,

35:21

a koi pond, a gym,

35:22

a pool with a grotto, a sports court,

35:25

a kids play area, and a huge water slide.

35:27

The outside of the home has a large fountain and

35:30

the house has several acres of land without any

35:32

neighbors anywhere nearby. I'm sorry,

35:35

eight bars? That's

35:38

the first thing you said, but that's, I've heard all that

35:40

other

35:40

stuff, which sounds like a 20,000 square foot house, but

35:43

why would you need eight bars

35:46

in your home? I have more on the bars

35:49

as well. Oh, goodies. The living

35:51

room, kitchen, and numerous bathrooms

35:53

take on the same aesthetic of white walls

35:56

and gray and black accents and furniture. Sounds

35:58

very LA to me.

36:00

The indoor play area for the kids has

36:02

a small theater stage. Oh,

36:04

that's nice. He

36:06

wants to make sure his kids stay grounded. Don't

36:09

just ride around in limos and fly on private

36:11

jets. The kitchen also takes

36:13

on the gray, white, and black color scheme with

36:16

an additional pop of dark turquoise

36:18

thanks to the chairs placed near the island. The

36:21

couple has two gray lighting

36:22

fixtures set over the island. As

36:24

for the master bedroom, Jason and Brittany chose

36:26

white bedding with a blue throw.

36:29

They also have a massive gray headboard behind

36:31

the bed to fit the colorway, and

36:33

Brittany's closet is no joke.

36:35

Jason's wife has all of her shoes and bags

36:38

perfectly organized in the large walk-in

36:40

space. Additionally, she

36:42

has a craft room in the home. Back

36:44

to the bars. The eight bars are all uniquely

36:47

spaced throughout the home.

36:48

One of the bars comes complete with an indoor

36:50

golf area.

36:53

And it seems likely that another is placed near

36:55

the LED bowling alley. Oh my

36:57

god. The piece closes.

37:00

Of course the outdoor area wouldn't be complete

37:02

without palm trees. And then quotes

37:04

Brittany, telling Taste of Country, our

37:06

palm trees aren't real, obviously. Quite

37:12

a difference from that humble 5,000 square

37:15

foot four bedroom place he shared with Jessica and

37:17

the girls back in 2012.

37:19

Back when they'd eat their homemade roasts and

37:21

potatoes and mac and cheese and then pray together

37:24

before bed.

37:25

Look, I know that celebrities are managed to within

37:28

an inch of their lives and that maintaining their image,

37:30

even if the image is

37:32

complete hooey, is of paramount

37:34

importance to the people behind the people

37:36

who make the magic happen. I get it.

37:39

But boy is it pretty clear that the People

37:41

magazine spread in 2012 was

37:44

one of the phoniest things ever

37:46

committed to print.

37:47

And it's only in this

37:48

second phase of his life and career

37:50

that we are meeting the real Jason Aldean.

37:53

The guy urging city folks to just keep

37:55

on driving when they hit a small place, lest

37:58

they be the victims of mob violence. violence by

38:00

good old boys while he sits in his 20,000

38:03

square foot mansion in Nashville with his Balenciaga-wearing,

38:06

Instagram-addicted wife.

38:09

I have to imagine that people working

38:11

in tourism

38:11

development for small towns or

38:14

rural regions are literally

38:16

pulling their hair out over Jason's

38:18

provocation this month, and I

38:20

am so sorry. We, Alicia

38:23

and I, are often traveling off of the interstate

38:25

around the south going through all sorts of small

38:27

places, and his threats will not

38:30

stop us from visiting and spending money

38:32

at out-of-the-way antique shops or interesting

38:34

restaurants

38:35

as we go. Also we're middle-aged

38:37

and have to pee sometimes. It happens.

38:40

It seems like Jason and his influencer

38:43

wife have realized where the easy money is

38:45

in this digital era we live in,

38:47

dividing Americans and sowing

38:49

fear, hatred, and even violence against

38:52

their fellow Americans, all while

38:54

boosting their profiles and the amounts of checks

38:56

they receive.

38:58

It's a lot of bluster from a guy who once

39:00

again ran off stage just

39:03

a week or so ago because it was too hot for

39:05

him in Connecticut. Jessica,

39:08

congratulations on your remarriage

39:10

back in 2015

39:12

and your decision to live a quiet life and

39:14

steer clear of social media.

39:16

Excellent choices. Good job, Jess. And

39:19

that, Alicia, is

39:21

the trashy divorce and second marriage

39:23

of Jason Aldean, just a good old boy

39:26

never doing no harm except increasingly

39:29

the exact opposite.

39:30

Stacey, well done. I

39:33

think, again, very informative.

39:35

Virai, do you have a number of trash cans for

39:38

this particular sitch? Oh, I do,

39:41

Alicia. Do you remember that

39:43

little beach house he'd splurged on back

39:45

when he was pretending to be a humble family man?

39:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, he's upgraded

39:50

to a $4.1 million Florida beachside mansion.

39:55

So that's the number of trash cans. I'm

39:57

giving the guy and his phony book.

40:00

4.1 million. That's extraordinarily

40:02

high. Well done. They're

40:05

probably all fake. They're

40:07

fake trash cans.

40:10

But you can't have an LA look without

40:13

palm trees. Of course they're

40:15

fake. Of course they're fake.

40:18

What a story. Thank you for

40:20

that. Trash Pandas, thanks for tuning

40:22

in for this week's episode of Trashy

40:25

Divorces. We will be back

40:27

next week on the main feed. I've got

40:30

a hot one coming for

40:32

you. In the meantime, don't forget,

40:34

check out Trashy Royals or Dun &

40:36

Dun if you need a few more fun

40:38

things to listen to in the summertime

40:41

ride of yours. Yep, and you can always

40:43

check us out at patreon.com slash

40:45

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40:46

for early and ad-free episodes,

40:48

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40:51

nightcap chats, all sorts of things over there.

40:54

You know, we can't tell you how grateful

40:56

we are for you, for your support, for telling

40:58

your friends, for your kind readings

41:00

and reviews, and your support

41:03

on Patreon.

41:04

Everybody have a tremendous kickoff

41:07

to this week. We can't wait to see you back midweek.

41:10

Until then,

41:11

keep your hands clean, friends. Keep your hearts

41:13

trashy, y'all. Bye. And

41:16

thanks to you for listening. Trashy Divorces

41:19

is a Hemlock Creatives production created and produced right

41:21

here in Atlanta, Georgia by us, Stacey

41:24

and Alicia, with a little research and

41:26

writing help from the brilliant Melissa

41:28

O. Our art is by Sydney V. Smith.

41:31

That's sydneyvsmith

41:32

at carbonmade.com.

41:35

And our music is used with permission of Razzi.

41:38

Check her out at Razzi's store

41:40

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