Jana Kramer shared a peek at her wedding dress hunt and opened up about feeling judged ahead of her and fiancé Allan Russell’s nuptials.
Kramer, 40, shared an Instagram photo of herself standing between two racks of wedding gowns on Tuesday, May 28. The One Tree Hill alum sported a strapless wedding dress with a long train in the snap.
“I know it’s coming when I get married. The comments. The judgment,” Kramer wrote in the lengthy caption. “Sometimes your past and your decisions can bring hurt, and they can bring shame. But it’s not meant to define you which was a perfect reminder from @kathrynvwoodard.”
Kramer opened up to Kathryn Woodard about trolls’ comments on her relationship history during the Monday, May 27, episode of her “Whine Down” podcast.
“Do you think I wanted to be married that many times? … It’s embarrassing,” Kramer said.
The singer was married to Michael Gambino for less than one year in 2004, to Johnathon Schaech from 2010 to 2011 and to Mike Caussin from 2015 to 2021. She told Woodard that she feels like she’s only been married once due to the nature of her first two marriages.
“When I was 19, I met someone and I knew him for, you know, a few days [and] went to Vegas. I was an idiot. He tried to kill me,” she said, referring to Gambino’s 2005 conviction on attempted murder charges after she suffered severe domestic abuse at his hands. Gambino died in 2012.
Kramer went on to say that she “realized within a week” of marrying Schaech, 54, that it was “a stupid decision.” She also noted that she never wanted to divorce Caussin, 37, with whom she shares daughter Jolie, 8, and son Jace, 5.
“Do people honestly think that I wanted to not be in that marriage? I did not want my husband to cheat on me countless times. I would have loved to have been married to him,” she said. “Having said that, I’m now grateful for the love that I do have now … but I did not want to get divorced.”
Despite finding love with Russell, 43, and welcoming her first baby with him, son Roman, in November 2023, Kramer admitted that she still feels “embarrassment” when she thinks about the pair’s upcoming wedding.
“There [are] pieces of shame in it. It’s just because of the comments and stuff,” she said.
While the haters sometimes get to Kramer, she shared a sweet reminder to herself on Tuesday that shut down the outside judgment.
“Here’s to the girl that feels like she has messed up a million times. Thinks she’s the common denominator. That she deserves abuse, that she is bad. That she is the problem … don’t let your past define you,” she wrote via Instagram. “You’re allowed to start over as many times as you want. You’re allowed to be happy. No matter how many times it takes. … Fight to understand your whys and the lessons till you get to exactly where you were always supposed to be … and who you always were, but never believed.”
Kramer, who got engaged to Russell in May 2023, said during Monday’s “Whine Down” episode that Russell is “the first person” who wasn’t judgmental of her marriage history when they started dating.
“When I first met him, it didn’t even make him flinch. It didn’t make me feel crazy, didn’t make me feel like I had to defend myself. He was just like, ‘You’re a warrior and I love you,’” she said. “I can’t imagine a world without Allan. … This is a beautiful life that I’d never imagined I could ever have.”
