JEN MAJURA Reflects On Seven Months Since Her Split With EVANESCENCE: 'There's A Lot Of Judgment Out There'

Jen Majura has once again opened up about her exit from EVANESCENCE, saying there has been "a lot of judgment" about the circumstances that led to her getting fired from the Amy Lee-fronted band.

The 39-year-old guitarist's departure from EVANESCENCE was announced on May 21 via social media.

"It has been a very special chapter in the band with our dear friend Jen Majura, but we have decided it's time to go our separate ways," EVANESCENCE said in a statement. "We will always love her and support her, and can't wait to see what she does next! We are so grateful for the good times and great music we made all around the world together."

Jen spoke about her split with EVANESCENCE during a brand new interview with IbagensCast. Asked what the last seven months have been like for her, Majura said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm tired. I am very, very tired because there are many opinions and there's a lot of judgment out there. It got to a point where no matter what I posted, people had opinions about that. And it seems ridiculous to me, but if I would say honestly how I feel — I'm hurt; it's hard; of course I'm not feeling great — people would go, like, 'Oh, you're playing the victim.' So, I'm, like, 'Okay. All right then.' So I said, 'Actually, I'm doing okay. I'm all right.' And then, of course, people would go, like, 'She never gave a shit about the band.' And it got to a point where I'm, like, 'You know what? I could post about my blueberry yogurt, and you would still find a way to connect this to what happened.

"I must say I turned very quiet on social media, because I just wanted to avoid all that white noise, all that blabbering, all these opinions — I was just tired of that," Jen continued. "And also, at the same time, when you break up with an ex-partner — that's the easiest example; you break up with your partner — the last thing on planet earth is that you wanna see that ex-partner on social media moving on. It's, like, 'No. I don't wanna see that.' I needed time to digest the whole thing. And like I said, I think the first few months I was just very busy with convincing everybody that I was doing okay when I honestly wasn't; I was not okay. And when everything you say in public is being judged… And honestly, I can only imagine how [Prince] Harry and Meghan [Markle] feel [laughs] — people with real problems, in terms of paparazzi. Who am I? I'm just a little nobody. Why do people talk about me? I think there's way more important things that the humankind should talk about, like climate change and what's going on in this nonsense war [in Ukraine] — real issues that people should discuss and find solutions for — instead of me. So I just realized that apparently this is a topic and people like to talk about it, but I don't necessarily need to be a part of that. So I turned very quiet on social media. And the more I distanced myself from that whole thing, the more I'm, like… I'm gonna say this right now, 'cause it's horrible, but I'm gonna say it anyway… The more I felt grossed out by the humankind.

"So altogether, I have not been good," Majura added. "I'm okay, but I'm far away from being good… When life throws shit at you, honestly… I mean, take a look at the whole scenario. In the beginning of 2020, I lost my dear-hearted relationship. That was followed by two years of isolation and lockdowns and the whole pandemic situation. Great! And then finally things get back to kind of 'normal-ish', and then May happens. So I can't really say that my past few, couple of years have been great. So 2023 is gonna be amazing, right?"

Elaborating on her decision to scale back her social media activities, Jen said: "I believe it's important to give yourself space to heal or space to be. When everybody sees you and expects you to be the positive, energetic goofball that I am — there is a big, big chunk of my heart that holds exactly that, but if life throws shit at you, you can't always keep that up. And that's another part why I decided to turn really quiet, because I just couldn't. You have to recharge your own batteries before you're able to recharge other people… I just felt empty.

"What this whole past [few] months really did to me is I started questioning a lot more that I feel that I should," Majura admitted. "I have more doubts. I am way more careful. And I never decided to be like that, because I would like to be this open-hearted, positive, good, welcoming person. But it changed me. And I don't blame anybody, and I'm not playing the victim — just to make sure everybody understands — but it's just something that happened with me. And… I don't know. I don't know where all this is going. As of right now, I'm doing okay. I'm getting better, still. I'm still not feeling super happy, because there is nothing to be… well, [there are] some things to be super happy about. [Laughs]"

Jen previously spoke about her split with EVANESCENCE this past June during an appearance on THE HAUNTED guitarist Ola Englund's YouTube show "Coffee With Ola". At the time, she said that she was still "hurt" by the move and compared the situation to a divorce.

"I believe, honestly, it's three weeks now since I got the news, and I'm still in this blurry, oblivious momentum," she said. "I guess I'm still in shock, kind of, because after being married six years, all of a sudden you're divorced.

"You know me, I always try to find the positive in a situation, so every day, step by step — I'm not doing great yet — but every day I find little tiny things that I'm, like, 'Oh, actually, this is good.'"

Asked how she found out that her services were no longer needed in EVANESCENCE, Jen said: "Honestly, I was cleaning my apartment, and I got the phone call. And first of all, I was, like, 'Is this a bad joke?' And I remember, after I got the news, I hung up, and I have this hallway in between my studio and my living room, and I just lay there on the floor, staring at the ceiling, wondering what that was, and literally looking over to my suitcase that I had already started packing, because I was two weeks from going out on the road until pretty much the end of the year."

Majura, a self-described "half-Asian living in Germany," joined EVANESCENCE in August 2015 as the replacement for Terry Balsamo.

Shortly after she landed the gig, Majura spoke to EMP Rock Invasion about how she came to connect with EVANESCENCE. She said: "My name was somehow recommended by a sweet friend of mine, Alex Skolnick of TESTAMENT, and Dave Eggar — he's also known as a very good cellist, and he's a musician working in New York. And all of a sudden, there was this e-mail popping up: 'Are you interested in joining…?' And I was, like, 'What the fuck?' So I stopped breathing until my face turned kind of blue. And then afterwards, I was, like, 'Okay, I've gotta read it again.' Three days later, I found myself suddenly on an airplane, flying over to New York to meet Amy Lee. And we had some very, very cool talks. She's an awesome person. She's a very, very great musician. And so I found myself suddenly inside of his empire called EVANESCENCE."

Regarding the fact that she didn't even have to "audition" for EVANESCENCE, Jen said: "Yeah. To be honest, I was kind of concerned. I told [Amy], 'Do you want me to bring my guitar?' And, 'Would you like me to audition?' And she was totally, like: 'Nah, I know you can play. I've seen plenty of videos of you. And I know your live experience and you're touring the world, so… No, just come over and let's have some food and talk.' Yeah, and that's it. So, actually, what I was surprised by very, very much was that she actually had another guitar player on her list, and that was the guitar player of Alice Cooper [Nita Strauss]. And she's now with Alice Cooper and I'm now with EVANESCENCE. This is, like… I still can't believe it."

In 2019, Lee said she was happy to have Majura in the band. "She has added a lot to our live shows because she's a singer," Amy explained. "It has been a really awesome thing to have live background vocals for the first time. I am such a fan of layered vocals, and to have that better represented at our show has been a cool breakthrough for me. And also, she's just rad energy. She's got a great attitude, fun personality, very engaging, killer onstage, so she has been a fun addition to our family. And of course, it's awesome having another girl in the band for the first time."

Majura has released two solo albums thus far, 2014's "Jen Majura" and 2017's "InZENity".

Last year, EVANESCENCE released "The Bitter Truth", its first album in 10 years.

EVANESCENCE's new lineup, featuring Emma Anzai of SICK PUPPIES on bass and EVANESCENCE's longtime bassist Tim McCord on guitar, made its live debut in June in Athens, Greece.