Before Lauren Alaina got engaged to Cam Arnold, the country singer was engaged to her high school sweetheart, Alex Hopkins, from July 2018 to January 2019.

According to People, while confirming their breakup, Alaina said she and Hopkins decided to end their engagement after realizing how much they’d grown apart over the last six years.

“We are now in a place where we are each looking forward to starting our own fresh, new chapters,” Alaina wrote, adding that she and Hopkins still love and respect each other.

For his part, Hopkins said he and Alaina fought really hard to make things work. However, “sometimes, what we want and what God has for us is 2 totally different things,” he said.

Appearing on Ashley Eicher and Hunter Kelly’s “All Our Favorite People” podcast, Alaina revealed that they had been broken up for quite some time when they announced their split.

“When we got engaged, it got really real [...] When you start planning your entire future and you’re not agreeing on things, it’s very hard,” Alaina further confessed.