Jack White and Olivia Jean will be (just) friends. The couple separates after more than four years of marriage.
According to court documents reviewed by TMZ, Jean filed for divorce on June 3 in Nashville and cited the same date as the date of separation. The petition alleged that White was “guilty of inappropriate marital conduct, making cohabitation unsafe and inappropriate.”
In Tennessee, “marital misconduct” is a commonly cited ground in a fault-based divorce petition. Although the official statute defines this as a spouse being guilty of “cruel and inhuman treatment or conduct,” legal experts at the Hoffman Law and Mediation Office point out that the actual behaviors that qualify under the law serve as a general whole.
This is White's third marriage and divorce, as the former White Stripes frontman was previously married to Stripes drummer Meg White and model-singer-songwriter Karen Elson.
The split comes more than four years after Jean, also a musician, married White onstage, mid-performance, in Detroit. “Ladies and gentlemen, it's been such a beautiful day, I'm thinking, why don't we do this right now and get married right now?” White said before asking Jean's father, Brent Markel, who was present, if the couple had his blessing.
“Yes,” Markel said, hugging White.
White then called his Third Man Records co-founder “Minister Ben Swank” onto the stage to perform the nuptials, and the couple said their “I do” to thunderous applause from the crowd.
In July 2022, Jean told the New York Times that it was the best experience of her life. “You could plan a wedding for five years and it wouldn't compare to that.”
For the record:
21:19 June 23, 2026An earlier version of this story referenced a quote from Jean in a June 22 New York Times article. The article was published in July 2022.
