‘Dancing with the Stars’ Pro Gleb Savchenko and Jana Kramer Talk Divorce; ‘I Didn’t Want to Do This Alone’
Gleb Savchenko and Jana Kramer were partners in Dancing with the Stars Season 23. The duo placed fourth when gymnast Laurie Hernandez and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy took home the Mirrorball Trophy. Now, Kramer and Savchenko share more than DWTS in common — they’re both newly divorced. The country singer and her former Dancing with the Stars partner opened up about their respective divorces and what it’s like co-parenting kids on Kramer’s Whine Down podcast.
Jana Kramer and Mike Caussin divorce in April 2021
Kramer and the former NFL player had a whirlwind romance and were married in May 2015. Together, they share two kids, Jollie and Jace.
Before their two-year wedding anniversary, Caussin released a statement about his sex addiction. “I acknowledge that certain actions and behaviors have caused issues in my marriage, and I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused Jana,” he said (via Us Weekly). “I have and will continue to take the steps needed to change who I am as a person in order to be a better husband and father.”
Kramer and Caussin officially separated on April 20, 2021. Before their divorce, she and Caussin hosted the Whine Down podcast together. On April 26 — the first Monday since their split — the show featured a co-host. Today, Kramer continues to feature different co-hosts on the podcast, where she interviews guests like relationship experts and Savchenko.
Jana Kramer tells Gleb Savchenko she ‘didn’t want to be a single mom’
During Savchenko’s appearance on the podcast, he and Kramer talked about their experience with divorce. He and his ex-wife Elena Samodanova officially split in November 2020 but were separated a few months earlier, according to Savchenko.
“We’ve had problems for years. I was in a mentally abusive, jealous relationship,” he alleged to Entertainment Tonight in December 2020. “I always said to myself, ‘Listen, she’s the mother of your kids, and you love her, just make it work for your kids.'”
As a guest on the podcast, Savchenko asked Kramer how she was feeling about her divorce. “It goes in waves. I get upset because I didn’t want to do this alone,” Kramer says in the “Gleb and Flow” episode. “I didn’t want to be a single mom. It’s not that I miss him — I’m very happy.”
Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko talk co-parenting through their divorces
Savchenko and Samodanova are currently co-parenting their two kids, Olivia and Zlata. He has them for five days and Samodanova gets them the next five so their custody is split 50/50. On the other hand, Kramer is “keeping her distance” from Caussin in terms of communication.
“I think it’s better for us with less communication,” she says of her co-parenting approach. “[I’m] putting the kids first because, like you said, in the beginning, there’s a lot of emotions. It’s very hard to be the bigger person when the person that hurt you is not nice. I’m distancing myself and I’m doing my part in being nice and that’s all I can control.”
Kramer is hopeful that the “emotions will wear off” one day, and she and her ex-husband can be friendly toward one another. Hear more from Kramer on Whine Down, available wherever you stream podcasts.
