Kelsea Ballerini, the Grammy-nominated singer at the age of 32, recently demanded respect during her performances, following an incident that occurred during one of her headlining sets in Sydney on December 6. As she sang her emotional track "Penthouse," a concertgoer shouted out her ex-husband Morgan Evans' name, causing a moment of disrespect in the midst of the emotional song.
In footage shared on social media, Ballerini can be seen singing "Penthouse" to a cheering crowd before an attendee yelled "Team Morgan!" which was immediately followed by boos from the audience. After telling the individual to "f--- off," Ballerini rolled her eyes and said, "See? Everyone's happy," with a smile on her face; she then gave a thumbs-up to fans before throwing up her middle finger with a smile on her face.
"Penthouse" appears on Ballerini's acclaimed 2023 EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which she wrote and recorded in the aftermath of her divorce from Australian singer-songwriter Evans, 40. The song includes the lyrics, "It hurts putting s--- in a box / And now we don't talk / And it stings rolling up the welcome mat / Knowing you got half."
After the incident, Ballerini took to her Instagram Stories to comment on the matter, writing: "Respectfully, if anyone yells anything disrespectful to anyone during this song again, it will no longer be on the setlist. Please let this be a song that matters to people and not a place to insert yourself into a world that doesn't exist and was never yours to begin with. Team everyone's happy or bust, please."
Ballerini filed for divorce from "Kiss Somebody" singer Evans in August 2022 after nearly five years of marriage, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE at the time. They had been working on their marriage for a very long time and had been in therapy for several years before arriving at the decision to formally separate. They first met in March 2016 during a co-hosting gig at Australia's CMC Awards and were engaged shortly after in December of that same year, tying the knot about one year later in Mexico.
In an April 2025 PEOPLE cover story, Ballerini opened up about how chronicling the "intense" period of her divorce on Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was healing for her. "I was going through what my parents did, and I went back to writing songs simply because I had to," Ballerini said of finding peace in songwriting. "I was like, 'I have to get it out of me.' My intention putting it out was to show other sides of heartbreak — to have more narrative, especially for women, around life changes and divorce."
Following her split from Evans, Ballerini dated on-off boyfriend Chase Stokes for about three years before a rep for Ballerini confirmed to PEOPLE that they had gone their separate ways in September 2025, though they later sparked reconciliation buzz when they were spotted on vacation together in Europe. The country superstar — who released her latest EP Mount Pleasant in November — is now on the final leg of her Patterns Tour, with three shows left in Australia.
