celebrity

Michelle Branch tweeted her husband was cheating on her. Within an hour, she was arrested.

You may not have heard the name Michelle Branch for a while.

But you'll know who she is: think back to 2001, when that song that goes "cause you are EEEEEVERYWHEEEERE TO MEEEEEE and when I close my eyes it'ssss you I SEEEE" was inescapable. 

Exactly. 

That's Michelle Branch.

(Also, she is a different person to Vanessa Carlton, who gave us piano banger 'A Thousand Miles' around the same period. Same same, but different.)


Following that absolute earworm, Branch released other songs you may know, though none quite hit the heights of 'Everywhere'.

Branch is still releasing music, actually. Her new album, The Trouble with Fever, is scheduled to be released on September 16 this year. 

But mostly, she has been doing her thing away from any major spotlight. Well, that was until this week, when her name re-emerged in a flurry of headlines.

On August 11, Branch announced she had split from her husband of three years, Patrick Carney, drummer for The Black Keys. In a tweet, she accused him of cheating.

Then, the following day, Branch was arrested for domestic assault after slapping Carney.

Here's everything we know.

Michelle Branch and Patrick Carney's relationship and divorce.

Branch and Carney met in 2015 at a Grammy party.

Branch had separated from her first husband, bass player Teddy Landau in 2014. Carney divorced his second wife, Emily Ward, in January 2016.

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Image: Getty.

Branch and Carney were engaged in 2017 and married in April 2019.

They collaborated on Branch's 2017 album Hopeless Romantic. She told Billboard at the time that making the record "felt like us against the world".

"Pat has said, 'I remember seeing you on MTV in the early 2000s and thinking you were really cute.' It's like, why couldn't we have just met each other in our twenties? We would have saved so much heartache."

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Branch and Carney have two children, a son, Rhys James, born in 2018 and a daughter, Willie, born in February 2022. She also has a 17-year-old daughter, Owen Isabelle, with Landau.

On August 11, Branch tweeted (and then deleted) allegations that Carney had cheated on her with his manager.

Image: Twitter.

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The following day, their split was confirmed with Branch providing a statement to People.

"To say that I am totally devastated doesn't even come close to describing how I feel for myself and for my family. The rug has been completely pulled from underneath me and now I must figure out how to move forward. With such small children, I ask for privacy and kindness," she said.

Four days later, on August 15, she officially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences and asking for custody of their children.

So far, Carney has not commented.

Michelle Branch arrested.

While the cheating allegations were already sparking discussion online and in news outlets, the following day news broke that spurred even more headlines.

At 2am on the morning of August 11, within an hour of Branch posting her now-deleted tweet and hours before she confirmed the split in her official statement, police were called to her and Carney's home in Nashville for a possible domestic disturbance.

According to court documents, Branch admitted to slapping Carney in the face "one or two times".

She was taken into custody with a $1000 bail. According to TMZ, she was released early because she is breastfeeding their six-month-old.

Branch has not spoken about the arrest, but she has continued to post on social media after this news broke.

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On August 14, she marked the 21st anniversary of her album The Spirit Room, which featured her best known singles 'Everywhere' and 'All You Wanted'.

"The Spirit Room came out 21 years ago today," she wrote on Instagram. 

"You're legally allowed to drink and listen to it now. Oh, the things I could tell this girl. I'm overwhelmed by the support."

Feature image: Twitter/Getty.

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