Maren Morris is open to finding love after her divorce from Ryan Hurd, enlisting dating app Raya to meet The One.
“[I’m dating] a little bit,” Morris, 34, quipped during an appearance on the Friday, September 6, episode of the “Chicks in the Office” podcast. “I mean, I’ve never really dated. Like, I’ve been in two long, monogamous relationships with men, and I never really had this dating phase because I was just always working [and] I ended up with long relationships with people I worked with or had proximity to.”
Morris and Hurd, 37, initially met in a songwriting session before getting married in March 2018. The pair, who share 3-year-old son Hayes, split in October 2023, and their divorce was finalized in January 2024.
“Dating for the first time, like, in your 30s is wild, and Raya is wild,” Morris, who identifies as bisexual after publicly coming out this summer, quipped on Friday. “Like, I’ve had some good experiences from it and, luckily, nothing crazy traumatizing.”
She added, “I just think it’s exhausting. I hate first dates. I’ll usually just, like, grab a drink with somebody because I don’t want to be stuck for two hours or three hours. [I] always have an out, whether it’s fake or not.”
Throughout the “interesting” dating app journey, Morris has been able to “learn more about [herself].”
“You’re showing them the best version of you and the highlights and it’s [like] a job interview,” the country star explained before noting she “feels better” about the situation whenever an acquaintance pops up on Raya. “I’ve seen friends on there, which is so weird and like, ‘Oh, I see you, X. Game recognizes game.’”
Morris has also encountered a few “wildly famous” celebrities on the app.
“It just makes me feel better about being on there ‘‘cause [I feel] so exposed and vulnerable having to pick your best photos,” she said. “I really respect it. It makes me feel so good. But, no, nothing serious. It’s [just] fun to have a crush.”
While Morris did not name her current crushes, she recently sparked dating rumors with Perfect Match alum Justin Assada when the reality TV personality, 27, uploaded an Instagram Story pic of Morris drinking a cocktail earlier this month. While neither Morris nor Assada have revealed their relationship status, People reported that the pair are “newly dating.” (Us Weekly reached out for comment.)
As Morris just starts to dip her toe into the dating scene, she is already using it as musical inspiration.
“I just have to little bit more too. Dating right now is great and it’s fun, but I feel bad for saying this, it’s just giving me fodder for songwriting,” Morris quipped on the podcast. “Like, ‘Sorry to be using you [for inspiration]. It’s like helping me get into the POV, like, an actor preparing. I’m going method [acting], like bad date, good date [or] whatever in between, it’s really fueling me.”
