{"id":2126889,"date":"2025-10-31T13:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2126889"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:25:11","slug":"how-jana-kramers-divorce-helped-shape-her-christmas-ring-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-jana-kramers-divorce-helped-shape-her-christmas-ring-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jana Kramer’s Divorce Helped Shape Her Christmas Ring Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jana Kramer<\/strong><\/a> isn\u2019t a widower, but she was still able to pull from her own experiences with loss when it came to playing one in her new holiday film, The Christmas Ring<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My character Vanessa] is a widower. She lost her husband, and obviously, I don\u2019t know that pain. I hope to never know that pain. But like everyone, I\u2019ve also experienced loss in other ways,\u201d Kramer, 41, exclusively told Us Weekly<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s a scene in the movie where I\u2019m having to take my wedding ring off. I remember having to do that, not because I wanted to, not because I lost them, but I had to. I had to move on, and I had to say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Kramer is happily married to Allan Russell<\/strong> <\/a>now, she\u2019s often been open about her tumultuous divorce from ex-husband Mike Caussin<\/strong>. The pair, who split for good in 2021 after six years of marriage, share daughter Jolie, 9, and son Jace, 6. (She was also previously married to the late Michael Gambino<\/strong> from 2004 to 2005 and briefly to Johnathan Schaech<\/strong> in 2010.)<\/p>\n

For Kramer, it\u2019s pulling from her past that helps her understand the characters she\u2019s playing today \u2014 and she didn\u2019t hesitate to use the experience of stepping into Vanessa\u2019s shoes as an opportunity to heal herself too.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Every Holiday Movie on TV This 2025 Season: Hallmark, Netflix and Lifetime<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tHallmark, Netflix, Lifetime and Great American Family are among the networks treating fans to festive TV movies this holiday season \u2014 and Us Weekly has the complete guide all in one place. Hallmark\u2019s 2025 \u201cCountdown to Christmas\u201d lineup kicked off in mid October with A Royal Montana Christmas. Great American Family\u2019s \u201cGreat American Christmas\u201d launched [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another therapeutic moment for me,\u201d she explained, noting that she felt an innate \u201cconnection\u201d with Vanessa. \u201cShe\u2019s scared to move on, just like so many people that have lost or gone through divorce. And what I hope that people can learn from my character, but also my life too, is that through healing and through time, love is out there, and it is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kramer has certainly found her happily ever after with Russell: The couple said \u201cI do\u201d during an intimate wedding<\/a> at a Scotland castle in 2024, less than one year after welcoming their first baby together, son Roman. It\u2019s the kind of hope-filled ending the One Tree Hill alum wishes for anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all feel that moment of, \u2018I don\u2019t know if someone will ever love me again,\u2019 but I believe that one day it will happen for everybody,\u201d she said, \u201cif that\u2019s what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Christmas Ring<\/em>, based on the novel of the same name by Karen Kingsbury<\/strong>, follows military widow Vanessa as she searches for her family\u2019s lost Christmas ring, an heirloom from D-Day. Her journey brings her to Ben (Ben Hollingsworth<\/strong>), who shows her that a second chance at love might be possible.<\/p>\n

Kramer has become known for her holiday films \u2014 \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been in Christmas in Mississippi, Louisiana, every state possible,\u201d she said with a laugh \u2014 but The Christmas Ring<\/em> felt like something different, standing out for both its complexity and the fact that it was cowritten by book author Kingsbury.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is just a phenomenal author, and what I love about Christmas movies is that they have a formula down, but sometimes I wish they would have a little bit more of [the things that] Karen brought to this movie,\u201d Kramer said. \u201cIt has conflict, it has loss, it has grief, it has hope. And she just ties it together so beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kramer noted that the film also has an \u201celement of faith\u201d she appreciated but \u201cnot so much that it\u2019s going to make people lean out.\u201d Instead, she feels the message is ultimately that there\u2019s always \u201chope\u201d for everyone, \u201cand I think that is a beautiful message at this time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Doing a \u201cfamily-friendly\u201d film was \u201cfun\u201d for Kramer, who admitted she likes a certain amount of balance and depth when it comes to her projects. She co-led Lifetime\u2019s 2023 A Cowboy Christmas Romance<\/em>, which marked the network\u2019s first time including a sex scene<\/a> in their holiday content.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so fun to do a Christian, faith-based [movie], and it\u2019s also fun to have that steamy thing too,\u201d she told Us. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I love about The Christmas Ring<\/em> and [A Cowboy Christmas Romance]<\/em>, because each one pushes the limits a bit. The Christmas Ring<\/em> is pushing the limits with loss and grief and family connections and conflict. And [Cowboy<\/em>] drew on the sexual boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kramer, it really is all about range, from straight-laced parts to the \u201cwild and crazy\u201d rebels that take her outside of herself. \u201cIt\u2019s [great] doing movies like The Christmas Ring<\/em> and pulling from past traumas and all that stuff,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I would just love to have some fun too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kramer added that while some people have argued that she shouldn\u2019t do certain projects while being a woman of faith \u2014 she recently revealed she was nearly cast on Netflix\u2019s super steamy The Hunting Wives<\/em> s<\/a>eries \u2014 that\u2019s actually what being an actress is all about.<\/p>\n

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