Country singer LeAnn Rimes and actor Eddie Cibrian have been blissfully married for 14 years, but the origin of their love story remains a controversial topic.
Rimes, 42, and Cibrian, 52, launched an affair after meeting on the set of the Lifetime movie “Northern Lights” in 2008.
They were both married — she to manager Dean Sheremet and he to model Brandi Glanville — at the time. The scandalous romance was plastered in the media in 2009 when photos of the co-stars locking lips surfaced. The adulterers announced their respective separations soon afterward, and their divorces were finalized in 2010.
The “Star Search” sensation and Hollywood hunk wed in 2011. Cibrian brought two sons, Mason, 22, and Jake, 18, to the marriage. In a new interview for Flow Space, Rimes recalled navigating backlash from fans who dubbed her a home wrecker over a decade ago.
She recalled facing misdirected anger. “I realized very quickly that there are a lot of women who’ve been hurt. Like, I’ve been on both sides of that coin — I’ve been cheated on, too, so I know that feeling,” she said.
Furthermore, Rimes explained, “I was a target that was just easily projected upon. … This is not all my pain to carry. I know what I’m responsible for in the situation and making amends for that. But you know, the world’s pain is not mine to carry, and I think that really got thrown at me for a long time.”
On X, a user sarcastically reacted to the story with, “Right, we need to be kind to home wreckers.” “You made the choice to proceed with the affair, so you are not the victim,” quipped a equally non-empathetic commenter.
A third user remarked, “He’s slimy..guaranteed he cheats on her too.” In a 2013 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Rimes admitted that she and and actor experienced lingering doubts of the other’s fidelity.
“We’ve been very honest and open with that to each other and our conversations about it have only made me understand how much he actually cares, as much as I do, about being faithful to each other,” the “How Do I Live” songstress explained.
The pair also buried the hatchet with Glanville to forge a harmonious blended family. The exes and Rimes were all present for Cibirian’s son Jake’s high school graduation in June.
