Singer Zac Brown Sues His Estranged Wife After She Posted A ‘Defamatory’ Instagram Post — ‘Let’s Keep Private Matters Private’
The Instagram post allegedly violated an NDA.
Brian Friedman / Shutterstock.com Country Singer Zac Brown, most notably known for being the frontman and co-founding member of the Zac Brown Band, has allegedly sued his estranged wife, Kelly Yazdi, over an Instagram post, according to court documents obtained by NBC News.
The couple, married for just 4 months, secretly said their vows back in August 2023 after months of speculation about their engagement. The couple told TMZ in December 2023 that they were in the process of divorce. “We wish each other the best,” Brown and Yazdi told TMZ in a joint statement, “and will always appreciate our time together.”
Singer Zac Brown sued his estranged wife Kelly Yazdi over a ‘defamatory’ Instagram post that he argued ‘tarnished his public image.’
Now that news has broken about Brown’s request for an “emergency temporary restraining order,” he explained to NBC News, “I took the steps necessary to enforce an agreement between us to maintain personal and business affairs in confidence and to protect my family.” Adding, “[My] only hope is for us to keep private matters private.”
While the Instagram post that Brown referenced in his lawsuit seemed unclear to many media reporters and fans who searched Yazdi’s Instagram account, a recent “written statement” from his soon-to-be ex-wife has cleared up any speculation, including several enlightening facts about the reality of their post-marriage feuds.
The alleged post, which included a poem, allegedly breaks Zac Brown’s ‘confidentiality agreement’ and the ‘restraining order’ request would immediately remove it.
In an Instagram post comprised of several videos from Yazdi, she included a poem about love in her caption, allegedly about her marriage and separation from Brown.
“Slowly but surely my words have come back / this war-torn, scared, broken, and blood heart beats again,” the poem began. Adding, “No longer depressed in darkness / Brought back to life by the support and encouragement of so many who have battled the same monster / Sharing horror stories of their own / Finally harnessing the courage to stand up.”
While not blatantly stated, commenters speculated that the poem represents the reality of her short marriage with Brown, seemingly revealing that Brown’s past partners have indulged her with similar struggles of being silenced and “caged” in their relationships.
Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com
Despite Brown's efforts, the lawsuit seemed to draw more attention to the couple’s divorce struggles, including experiences that Yazdi is now motivated to share with the public after being “dragged” into her estranged husband’s “legally meritless lawsuit.”
In addition to removing the Instagram post, court documents relayed an urgency from Brown to ensure his Yazdi is prevented from “making any defamatory, false, untrue, or otherwise damaging statements” about him, his family, and his career.
Yazdi responded, admitting she will never ‘be silenced’ from expressing her story through art.
Despite Brown’s statements arguing for “privacy” about their marriage, divorce, and family, Yazdi argued he’s never been shy in “falsely defaming” her personal character in the public eye. In fact, his legal attacks on her “artistic expression” — like the poem she shared, detailing her past “deceitful love” — were hypocritical. Through his own music, specifically one music video, he’d allegedly done the same to her.
“It is beyond ironic that Zac’s first act after filing an unnecessary public divorce lawsuit was to release a music video that deliberately mocked our wedding party from only a few months before — including a false and defamatory caricature obviously intended to be me and hurt me,” Yazdi wrote, in a statement on her Instagram from May 19. “He now claims his ‘only hope’ is that we show each other ‘mutual respect’ by keeping ‘private matters private’ as we negotiate the terms of our divorce.”
The alleged music video Yazdi referenced seems to be Zac Brown Band’s song “Beautiful Drug,” first posted on the band’s YouTube just two months after the couple’s divorce announcement in December 2023.
“I have made no public response to either of those very public, very unnecessary personal attacks on me by my celebrity soon-to-be-ex-husband,” she added. “But it is clearly Zac, not me, who has strategically chosen to drag our difficult divorce negotiations into the public eye with these tactics in an effort to portray himself as a victim… It will not work, and I will not be silenced by him no matter how ridiculous his tactics.”
“Like Zac, I have lawyers too, and I will tell my truth in court — where he has unnecessarily dragged me.”
No further court documents or legal motions have been publicly addressed, but many fans are divided over the drama. Of course, privacy when it comes to delicate matters like this are essential, but being selective about who is offered the luxury is an entirely different debate.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.