Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert were the cutest country couple since Faith Hill and
Tim McGraw.
The pint-sized powerhouse and the lanky goofball in cowboy boots charmed the entire world with
their romance — but it all came crashing down in 2015 when the pair split.
What happened to shatter their picture-perfect love?
As it turns out, a lot.
Faulty foundation
Shelton and Lambert met when he was married to his first wife, Kaynette Gern, in 2005.
Shelton and Lambert were performing together in CMT'S "100 Greatest Duets" concert and
sparks flew immediately.
He explained on Behind the Music in 2012, "I've never had that kind of experience with
anybody.
I was a married guy, you know?
Standing up there and singing with somebody and going, 'Man, this shouldn't be happening.'
Looking back on that, I was falling in love with her, right there on stage."
Landing a guy thanks to a wandering eye isn't exactly the most auspicious start to a relationship.
Perhaps the writing was on the wall from the start.
Long distance
TMZ reported that Lambert grew tired of Shelton spending so much time in Los Angeles to film
The Voice during their marriage.
The "Only Prettier" singer reportedly hates Tinseltown and being in the spotlight, so
having to fly out to see him, sometimes just for a day, was tough on her.
Combine that with the couple's touring schedules when he wasn't filming the NBC hit, and you've
got a recipe for a strained marriage.
Sources close to Lambert also told TMZ that while she would visit Shelton in Los Angeles
often to accommodate his filming schedule, he rarely went out to see her at home in Oklahoma,
leading her to "feel like an abandoned wife" and to ultimately declare, "This is no way
to live."
An insider also told Radar Online, "Miranda loves having this picture-perfect country
marriage, but the truth is, she's often lonely."
In 2012, Shelton pretty much admitted as much himself, telling People, "She does that for
me way more than I've ever done that for her.
… She's always been the one to go through hell to make sure we spend time together."
Stepping out
The rumor mill pointed an alleged affair between Lambert and country singer Chris Young — who
previously opened for her on tour — as the cause for their demise.
The two were occasionally spotted out in public together, and sources claimed that they seemed
to be more than just friends.
Young denied the allegations, telling Entertainment Tonight:
"Man, it sucks that I got put in this situation with two people who are my friends.
[...] It's just so weird getting pulled into something like that where it just wasn't true."
Young then added that he'd exchanged texts with Shelton the day that the allegations
began flying and received an apology from the singer for being roped into his divorce drama.
He even took to Twitter to squash the gossip, writing, "They are both my friends and I would
not betray that friendship.
Just wanted to clear that up."
But the accusations of infidelity weren't one-sided.
Rumors swirled that Shelton was stepping out on Lambert with country crooner Cady Groves,
whose "This Little Girl" video featured Shelton.
Groves reportedly bristled at the unwanted attention the rumors caused her, and claimed
she tried to get in touch with Shelton to clear things up but was ultimately ignored.
Her brother told Radar Online that Groves' career was deeply affected by the drama and
that she even lost a record deal and an album release she'd been expecting because of it.
Shelton denied having anything to do with her.
Pitter patter
Even if those adultery rumors were untrue, Lambert and Shelton reportedly didn't agree
on whether or not to have children right away, and that may have impacted their marriage.
Lambert, who was seven years younger than her husband, told People that she wanted to
put a lot of thought and planning into having children because "I don't want to have children
and raise them on a plane or a bus."
Blake, however, sang a much different tune in 2011 when he told People, "When I see my
mom and dad with their grandkids and that relationship down the road, that's what I'm
looking forward to more than anything: that family and those generations and being on
that end of things."
As a result, Miranda's hesitation to have kids has been seen as what may have sped up
their split.
New flames
Conveniently, around the same time Shelton and Lambert split, his fellow The Voice coach
Gwen Stefani and her rocker husband Gavin Rossdale were going through divorce drama
of their own after he was accused of cheating on her with the family nanny.
After both couples went kaput, Shelton and Stefani subsequently engaged in a very high-profile
romance of their own.
"In all of this craziness that happened, like unexpected horribleness, I found a friend
that was literally going through the exact same thing as me."
Shelton told talk show host Chelsea Handler that the timing for their rebound romance
could not have been better.
"It's like whoa, all of this was meant to happen, so I made a record about it."
The two didn't hide their early romance.
"So you guys were instagramming and instagramming and then everything stops… so everybody
knows what happened after that."
"What's that?"
"Penetration."
Ah, love.
Shelton and Stefani might've waited to get together until after they were each single
to mingle, but finding bliss together certainly might've foreclosed any chance of a reconciliation
with their former spouses.
For her part, Miranda Lambert hasn't exactly been flying solo either — she's since been
linked to singer Anderson East, and the two reportedly spend their off-time together strumming
on their guitars and living the low-key life she's always wanted.
We'll call that a happy ending for everyone involved.
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