Country star Jason Aldean has blamed poor judgement for the 2012 kissing scandal which led to the end of his marriage.

The Big Green Tractor hitmaker hit headlines in September, 2012 after he was photographed locking lips with former American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr at a bar in Los Angeles.

He publicly apologised to his wife Jessica Ussery in a statement published online, admitting he had "too much to drink" and "acted inappropriately", and the high school sweethearts battled to save their marriage for the sake of their kids.

However, Aldean filed for divorce to end the 12-year union in April (13), and now he has opened up about the controversy for the first time, revealing the former couple had been going through its own troubles when he was caught cheating.

In a U.S. Tv interview with newswoman Robin Roberts, which aired as part of the special Countdown to the Cma (Country Music Association) Awards show on Tuesday (05Nov13), he said, "It's one of those things where, you know, you go out and you're just hanging out.

"I think the biggest thing is, you know, obviously there was things going on in my marriage at the time where it just wasn't really happy. And you go out and you kind of let your guard down a little bit and things happen, and unfortunately... it's tough."

Aldean claims the media scrutiny which followed only made it more difficult for him to fix his marriage: "When you have to deal with all that stuff in public, I mean, it's hard to - it's hard enough to deal with it in private."

He admits that he's glad the paparazzi took photos of himself leaving the bar with friends - as he had photographic proof that he didn't take the singer back to his hotel.

He says, "Probably the best thing that could have happened that night was... they also took the pictures of me getting in a cab with my buddies."