Karen Waldrup slept with her Bible every night to survive her divorce — and turned the pain into music

Nashville country singer Karen Waldrup says faith, Scripture, and a short list of trusted friends carried her through a devastating divorce in 2025, and she channeled the heartbreak into two new songs she hopes will lift others facing the same grief.

Waldrup, a Louisiana-born singer-songwriter and top-five finalist on Season 25 of NBC's "The Voice," opened up to Fox News Digital about the worst season of her life. She described the fall of 2025 as a period of deep vulnerability, one she navigated not by retreating from her career but by pressing further into it, recording new music even on the days she felt most broken.

The result is "Keeping the Faith," a track Waldrup recorded on what she called the toughest day she has ever spent in a studio, and "Just in Case," a single released on Friday, September 18. Both songs grew directly out of the wreckage of her marriage.

Waldrup kept her Bible in bed every night during the worst of it

Waldrup did not sugarcoat the pain. She told Fox News Digital that she slept with her Bible beside her every single night during the fall of 2025 and opened Scripture first thing each morning. That daily rhythm, she said, became the foundation that held her together.

"When I was going through that, I was actually sleeping with my Bible every single night, in the bed with me at night. I was waking up every morning, opening my scripture and reading it. My faith was definitely the foundation of what got me through that."

She announced the end of her marriage publicly in February, posting on her Facebook page that the decision came after "a lot of time, reflection and prayer." She asked fans for kindness as she moved forward.

Waldrup did not name her former spouse in the interview, and no details about the divorce proceedings were disclosed.

Recording through brokenness produced something she's proud of

The singer said she was still working on a record when the divorce hit, and she forced herself to keep showing up. She drew inspiration from artists who had done the same under crushing personal circumstances, naming Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire as performers who returned to the stage after losing loved ones or dealing with family emergencies.

Waldrup described the studio session for "Keeping the Faith" in blunt terms. She did not know whether the song would even turn out well because she felt so shattered. But the brokenness, she said, ended up giving the vocal its power.

"The day that I tracked that song was a tough day. It was the toughest day that I've ever been in the studio. And I didn't know if it was even going to come out good because I felt so broken. But I think in the end, the song came out great because of the brokenness."

She pointed to a lyric in the bridge, "There's a reason I'm still standing here stronger than I ever knew", as the line that captured what she learned. Losing a lifelong marriage, she said, destroys a dream. But she believes people come out of it stronger.

God plus five: Waldrup's rule for who gets to speak into your pain

Beyond Scripture, Waldrup described a deliberate strategy for protecting herself emotionally. She made a list of six people she could talk to honestly about the divorce: God, plus five trusted friends. Everyone else got shut out, not out of hostility, she explained, but out of survival.

"Sometimes when you're going through something like a divorce, everyone has their opinions. Everyone has all these different things that people want to say. And so I found that was a really helpful thing."

Her advice was practical. Rather than absorbing the noise of fifty opinions, she said, a person going through crisis should identify the handful of people who make them feel like they will get through it, and lean only on those voices.

Waldrup's friends, she said, never doubted her. They believed she would survive the season, and that belief mattered.

Seven albums, 12 awards, and a career built on showing up

Waldrup is no newcomer. She has released seven studio albums and more than fifty songs worldwide. She is a BMI songwriter, a member of both the Recording Academy and the Country Music Association, and a winner of twelve Nashville Industry Music Awards. She has performed in more than fifteen countries.

Her run on Season 25 of "The Voice" brought her national visibility as a top-five finalist. That platform gave her a wider audience, one she now sees as part of a purpose larger than personal fame.

Waldrup told Fox News Digital she does not need to be important. She framed her music as a gift meant to serve others, not a vehicle for celebrity.

"I don't really need to be important. All I need to do is do God's work.... He gave me this voice. And we're talking about faith, we're talking about music, we're talking about joy, we're talking about friendship, and about love, or the lack thereof."

She said she feels she is living God's purpose for her life, a conviction that clearly predates the divorce but was tested and deepened by it.

"Keeping the Faith" is about more than one woman's marriage

Waldrup was clear that the song is not just autobiographical. She described it as a message for anyone fighting to hold on, to hope, to a dream, to optimism itself.

"It's not just about keeping the faith, it's about keeping the hope, keeping the dream, keeping the focus, keeping the optimism.... So many people know the disheartening horror of that experience, and it was terrible."

She called "Keeping the Faith" one of her favorite songs she has ever been part of. And she said its message is simple: no matter what happens, get back up.

In a culture that treats faith as a quaint accessory or a political prop, Waldrup's account is a reminder that for millions of Americans, Scripture is not a talking point. It is what you pull into bed with you when everything else falls apart, and the thing still there when morning comes.