Jana Kramer opens up about overcoming shame, finding love again
Country singer and "One Tree Hill" alum Jana Kramer is opening up about her heartbreak, happiness and her pregnancy journey in a new memoir called "The Next Chapter."
Kramer climbed to stardom on the hit teen drama, which aired from 2003 to 2012, and even appeared on season 23 of "Dancing With the Stars." But behind all the Hollywood success, Kramer said her life was not picture perfect and that her late first husband was physically abusive.
"I didn't realize how much, how many shame messages I was carrying, like that I wasn't enough or that I wasn't worthy or I deserved abuse because of all the messages that I received from past relationships," Kramer told ABC News correspondent and "GMA3" co-anchor Eva Pilgrim.
The singer and actor said she felt the shame she carried had been hard to discuss.
"That's where all the shame messages come from. That's the belief that when someone puts a hand to you, you just think that's what you deserve," Kramer said.
But Kramer has come a long way since then and in her new book, coming out this fall, she details her personal evolution, including the year after her third marriage fell apart, and her next chapter.
She begins the book at the end of her relationship and Kramer said she wanted to "start there and to end with hope and growth."
"That's what I wanted to take people, along the journey," she said.
In May, Kramer announced she found love again and was engaged to former soccer player Allan Russell. The couple are expecting a baby boy later this year.
Although she and Russell both have children already, she said this latest pregnancy was one she wasn't sure could even happen as she had multiple miscarriages in the past.
"I did IVF. I don't know why or how but both babies were after a failed IVF pregnancy. They came naturally," Kramer said. "I'm so grateful again, is where I end up going to and we just had our anatomy scan last week and just seeing that little 3D vision of the baby boy, I was just like, it's a beautiful thing that I just never thought I would. I could have never written this."
Kramer said she hopes her story will offer hope to others and show that hard seasons do pass and that happily ever after can be real. She added that she had to love herself first before she could find true love and happiness.
