Michelle Branch Has 'Nothing But Love' for Patrick Carney, Says Marriage Is 'Changing by the Hour'

Jeff Kravitz/Getty Patrick Carney of the Black Keys and Michelle Branch

While gearing up for the release of her new album The Trouble with Fever, Michelle Branch's marriage to the Black Keys musician Patrick Carney came into question.

Last month, Branch posted — then deleted — a tweet accusing Carney of cheating on tour while she was home with their 7-month-old daughter Willie. After sharing the post, the singer-songwriter, 39, was arrested on a since-dismissed domestic assault charge for allegedly slapping Carney, 42. She filed for divorce days later and wrote in a statement at the time, "With such small children, I ask for privacy and kindness."

"I definitely shouldn't have taken to Twitter to say anything. Here I am saying, 'Please respect our privacy,' but I'm the one who said it to the world," Branch tells PEOPLE, over Zoom from her Nashville home, in this week's issue.

While she may have regrets, Branch has long been known for wearing her vulnerability on her sleeve. One month after the dramatic episode, though, she's honest but careful when addressing the situation. "I have to be respectful of the fact that I'm not the only person involved in this. We have very small children," says Branch, who also has a 4-year-old son, Rhys, with Carney, and a 17-year-old child, Owen (who uses they/them pronouns), with her ex-husband Teddy Landau. "I've promised Patrick I won't speak about it publicly."

As hesitant as she is to say too much about the status of her marriage, it's clear she doesn't have all the answers. "I'm still living in it right now," she admits, "and it's still changing by the hour."

(Days after this interview, Branch and Carney filed to suspend the divorce proceedings for six months to work on their marriage, according to Tennessee court documents obtained by PEOPLE. Carney has not responded to multiple requests for comment.)

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To make matters even more complicated, Branch is in the midst of promoting The Trouble With Fever, out Friday, which was co-produced by Carney.

Recorded in their home studio over the pandemic, Branch's latest body of work features passionate love songs about Carney ("Beating on the Outside") written prior to recent events. The Trouble with Fever also includes lyrics on tracks like "Not My Lover" and "I'm Sorry" that nod toward relationship turbulence and infidelity, written over the past decade, drawing from friends' experiences and artistic ideas — not Branch's own life. Still, the irony isn't lost on her. "It's bizarre that this has all happened in my life as I'm releasing this record that has some of those themes to it," says Branch.

Born in 1983 and raised in Sedona, Arizona, Branch left home midway through high school to pursue a music career. At 17 years old, she crafted her 2001 major label debut album, The Spirit Room, and she's since built a catalog of hit singles: "Everywhere," "All You Wanted, "Goodbye to You," "Breathe," "Are You Happy Now?" and a Grammy-winning collaboration with Santana, "The Game of Love."

In 2005, she formed country duo The Wreckers with her longtime friend and backup singer Jessica Harp. That same year, Branch became a mom for the first time, to a child who is now the same age she was when she recorded her star-making debut. "It's hard to let them have their freedom because I want to keep them close to home," Branch says of Owen, who's currently looking at colleges. "But I left home around their same age, and that's the way you learn — trial by fire."

After splitting from Landau in 2014 following 10 years of marriage, Branch met Carney at a party in 2015. They began dating while working on her 2017 album Hopeless Romantic and tied the knot in 2019, a year after welcoming Rhys. (Carney was previously married to writer Denise Grollmus and designer Emily Ward.) She's still uncertain about her future with Carney, but Branch is leaning into music to heal.

Initially unsure how to proceed with her album's release, she sought advice from her close friend Kacey Musgraves, who endured her own public divorce in 2020. The country star encouraged Branch to keep busy. "I feel like it's going to be exactly what my heart needs right now," says Branch of her upcoming shows. "It will be very, very cathartic. I don't know what I would be doing if I didn't have that distraction."

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courtesy Michelle Branch Michelle Branch

In her lowest moments, Branch finds strength in therapy. "I can't speak more highly about reaching out to somebody if you need to," she says. "That — and my girlfriends — have helped me immensely."

Given the public nature of Branch and Carney's recent struggles, her fans have flooded her social media with supportive comments as of late, which she's appreciated. "If you had asked me a month or two ago how I was feeling about going on tour, I was a little bit stressed out about how I was going to juggle having the baby out, my other two kids at home and Patrick out on tour," she recalls. "But in the last few weeks, I have felt so much love and support from people that it's actually really made me so excited."

However, Branch doesn't condone any hateful messages sent toward Carney, who's remained quiet online as everything's unfolded. "I don't want him to be judged too harshly. We're all human, and we all f--- up. We all make mistakes," she says. "I have nothing but love for him."

Despite the heartbreak she's faced in the past month, Branch is choosing to associate The Trouble With Fever with the loving environment in which it was created. "We made this record together. I'm very proud of it, and it's our creative baby," she says. "That fact doesn't change."

For more from Michelle Branch, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.