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LeAnn Rimes Details “Craziness” of Affair With Eddie Cibrian
When Leann Rimes married Eddie Cibrian in 2011, even her biggest fans wondered what kind of life would that be.
Considering they met while married to other people and that did not stop them from embarking on a romance.
“I’ve been on both sides of that coin—I’ve been cheated on, too, so I know that feeling,” Rimes said in a recent interview with The Flow Space, acknowledging “all of the craziness” that ensued. “But so many women don’t know what to do with that anger… I was a target that was just easily projected upon. And once I realized that, things got a lot easier.”
It certainly didn’t look easy at first. But somewhere along the way, after the remorseful interviews had been given, the custody issues hammered out on his end and his ex-wife Brandi Glanville’s predictions of his future infidelity eventually tapered off, Rimes and Cibrian just became a regular couple.
They did change pop culture as we know it, though, turning Glanville into one of the most proudly mischievous Real Housewives that Beverly Hills had ever seen and further cementing the set of Lifetime movies as the place people go to meet their future next spouse.
John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM
Perhaps top-loading their relationship with drama was the secret, making any future obstacles seem deliciously normal in comparison. Rimes and Cibrian have been married for 14 years now and have weathered everything from having a reality show—so often a bad idea for couples even if it seems great in the moment—to Rimes experiencing perimenopause symptoms in her late 30s.
“I thought I was crazy for about two years,” the now 42-year-old singer told The Flow Space. “I was waking up at 3 a.m. all the time, and having really, really heavy anxiety.” And at first she didn’t tell her husband, but when she sought an expert’s opinion she was urged to let him in on what was happening.
“She really committed to learning and seeking out help early on,” Cibrian, 52, told the site. “We were never in a position wondering why these things were happening. We knew the why, which is a huge step for most couples.”
Another major step on their road to domestic tranquility?
Mending fences with Glanville, with whom Cibrian shares sons Mason, 22, and Jake, 18.
"I think we both grew up a lot because obviously, it was a decade of fighting," Glanville said in 2021 on the Hollywood Raw podcast with Dax Holt and Adam Glyn. "I think our kids had a lot to do with it because the kids love when we're all together, and it's so obvious. They're so happy. They're giddy little creatures."
As for the anger Rimes encountered, some of it came from Glanville’s besties.
"My friends are still mad at her and him,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum told Holt and Glyn. “I'm like, ‘If I can deal with this, you guys need to get over it.' I guess I just forget s--t. I'm just fine with it. We both love Eddie's parents. We both love the kids, and Eddie's going to be in my life for the rest of my life."
She added, "We bicker still like we're married when we're not. We're like sister wives. It's me and LeAnn and Eddie."
The once-warring factions were all smiles when they attended Jake’s high school graduation in June.
At one point it was rumored that Rimes was planning to write a memoir to tell her side of the story, but she tweeted in 2012, "So you all know…there's no 'tell all' book about divorce, marriage and 'my side.' I just laugh at [all] of this!"
But she did release her 2011 album Lady & Gentlemen, consisting of mainly covers but also two new songs, including "Crazy Women."
"Crazy women, ex-wives and old girlfriends / Keep their crazy hidden till they're pushed off the deep end / Oh yeah, God forgive them, they weren't born like this / Oh no, crazy women are made by crazy men..."
Anyhoo…
Glanville went ahead and wrote 2013's Drinking & Tweeting and Other Brandi Blunders, which included this appreciation: "I would like to thank my ex-husband, Edward Cibrian, for giving me all the material I could ever need to write this book and for helping me discover the strong independent woman inside of me."
Glanville and Cibrian, known for the soap Sunset Beach and the firefighter drama Third Watch, had been married since 2001 when he went to shoot the Lifetime movie Northern Lights opposite Rimes in 2008.
Rimes had met her husband Dean Sheremet when he was hired as her backup dancer for the 2001 ACM Awards. One date and she knew, "this is the guy I want to marry," she told InStyle. They tied the knot in 2002, when Rimes was 19 and in full-fledged rebelling-against-wholesome-teen-stardom mode.
But several years in, Rimes, whose "How Do I Live" was one of the biggest songs of the '90s (and ever), said she was happy with her choices.
"I'm at such an incredible place in my life," she told the Washington Post in 2005. "I've been married for three years next month, and we've been together for four years. My dad and my mom and I have never had as good of a relationship as we do now. I've been through all the hard stuff. I hope I've been through enough of it to last me for a while."
But her connection with Cibrian was just one of life's inevitabilities.
In March 2009, Us Weekly reported that the two were having an affair. At first, however, they explained away sightings of them together as just being that—photos of them in the same frame.
"Other than being friends and two actors who were romantically intertwined in a movie-for-television we filmed last fall, there is no truth to the reporting initiated by Us Magazine," Cibrian said in a statement at the time. "It is a fabricated story that is using random snapshots as connective tissue to create a scandalous relationship." He and Glanville joined forces for some happy-looking paparazzi pics, the pair photographed smiling over frozen yogurt.
Rimes was a bit more opaque about the rumors. "This is a difficult time for me and my loved ones...I would like to assure all of you that this is a place for you to hear things directly from me and as you all know,” she wrote on her website at the time, “not everything in our lives is always black and white.”
Courtesy of Jacob S. Andrzejczak / Getty Images
Glanville and Cibrian were separated by July 2009, with the scorned Glanville telling Us Weekly, "I want to do what is best for our children. Eddie and LeAnn deserve each other." Days later, a friend of Rimes and Sheremet told People that they were no longer living together, "but they continue to try and work through their relationship."
More black and white were the divorce papers Cibrian filed in August 2009.
"They're going on vacation this weekend to Mexico," Glanville told E! News, referring to her ex and Rimes. "I'm looking forward to seeing those pictures."
A week later, Rimes and Sheremet announced that they were planning to divorce, and she celebrated her 27th birthday in Mexico with Cibrian. They were a public couple ever after.
Sheremet filed for divorce that Dec. 17. He opened up in 2015 about the split to Nat's Next Adventure, suggesting that there were a number of things that led to the failure of his and Rimes' marriage. He had basically put his dancing career on hold to devote himself to Rimes and her career and, ultimately, "the business ended up destroying us." He was the one who encouraged her to do Northern Lights. His first impression of Cibrian was that he "wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw this f--king table."
But, Sheremet remembered, "even though there was tension, we were still talking about the next chapter, about starting a family. I remember feeling earlier on like, 'I can't wait till 30. We'll have a kid, slow down a bit.' Cut to it being a f--king disaster."
Meanwhile, all hell was breaking loose in the broken Cibrian-Glanville household.
Also in December 2009, Cibrian filed court papers alleging that Glanville had slashed the tires on his motorcycle—which, she assured us, she most certainly did.
"He broke my heart, so I broke his Harleys," Glanville told E! News. "It was right after I found out about girl No. 2, and I had that Carrie Underwood song in my head, and I just went for it!"
Glanville maintained that Cibrian was a repeat offender as far as cheating went. Before 2009 was over, Scheana Marie (later of Vanderpump Rules) told Access Hollywood that she had been seeing Cibrian, but their affair ended when he met Rimes. She didn't know he was married when their relationship first began, Marie said. Once someone pointed out to her that her beau was married, Marie said that Cibrian told her he was separated.
And when they were together, it was "amazing," she claimed. "I mean, it was just like no one else mattered. It was just me and him. We had such a good time together that I never wanted it to end."
Cibrian had sued Life & Style for defamation that November over a story claiming he had already stepped out on Rimes with Marie, who also denied it.
"Since the separation from his wife," the lawsuit read, "Eddie Cibrian has not had a romantic or sexual relationship with any woman other than Ms. Rimes."
Leann Rimes/Instagram
But once everyone was busy getting divorced...cue the rom-com montage?
Rimes' divorce was finalized in June 2010, and Cibrian's marriage officially ended that October. Glanville said she hoped they could all get along, for the sake of the kids.
And on April 22, 2011, Cibrian married Rimes. A small group of friends and family, including the groom's sons, were present for what they thought was an engagement party at the couple’s home but turned out to be their nuptials.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
"I don't like the word regret," Rimes told E! News' Giuliana Rancic in December 2012. "I wish I handled it differently because I wish I could have been better for me, for Brandi, for Dean, for Eddie, and for everyone else."
Cibrian "reacted the way that I reacted too, but he reacted in his own way, and I allowed him to do that," she said. "He had so much more to deal with than I did. I had a marriage. He had a marriage and children. I can't even fathom that."
About her relationship with her stepchildren, Rimes told Pride Source in 2011, "I guess if loving them with all my heart and taking care of them when they're with us and being there for them is overbearing, then I guess I am—but I don't think that's the definition of overbearing.
"I grew up in a family where my parents divorced when I was 14. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I know my mom and dad weren't meant to be together other than to have me (laughs), and I'm totally cool with it. The kids are our main priority, and we have a house full of love and I have a great relationship with them."
Meanwhile, a lot of society remained skeptical about Rimes and Cibrian's long-term prospects. Their short-lived VH1 series, LeAnn & Eddie, which aired in 2014, made the duo fodder for the usual host of cheating/having trouble/baby fever headlines that tend to spring from any marital drama that's willingly captured on camera. In one episode Rimes talked about whether she'd be able to get pregnant or not, and visited a doctor for advice.
Rimes tweeted that October about the seemingly endless onslaught of headlines. "If you combine OK! Magazine and The National Enquirer's stories that they're 'investigating' this week you get...Eddie doesn't want to have kids with me so he's been cheating on me since April & we're headed for that 50 million dollar divorce we were gonna go through almost a year ago," the singer wrote. "I'm sure there's aliens involved in it too, but we only get told bits and pieces."
When their show came out, Rimes told OK! , "We have gone through hell and back to be together and blend a family. Those sort of things are not easy. It takes a commitment. We've gone to therapy to learn how to communicate better because we don't want to screw with the kids. It has made us better and our marriage stronger."
MAP / Splash News
Over time, there stopped being a new Brandi vs. LeAnn headline every week. Glanville wrote another book, 2014's Drinking and Dating, and competed on The Celebrity Apprentice and Celebrity Big Brother.
Glanville told Howard Stern in 2015 that she didn't blame Rimes for shooting her shot with Cibrian. "You can't steal a man," she said. "He has to go. I'm not in love with him, but sometimes I miss what I thought he was."
Still, in June 2017 Glanville predicted on E!'s Daily Pop that Cibrian and Rimes wouldn't be together all that much longer.
"In the state of California, after 10 years, you are entitled to half of everything that the other person has and that's it," she explained her reasoning to E! News a week later. "I really believe he is putting in his 10 years."
Joy Malone/Getty Images
But if you separate LeAnn and Eddie's present from their scandalous past, their life together looks exceedingly normal (for celebrities), from the Halloween costumes, birthday celebrations and graduation pics to the occasional red carpet.
Leann Rimes/Instagram
"It just works," Rimes told People in February 2017. "We respect each other; respect is a big deal, and once you lose that, you've kind of lost everything. He's a wonderful father and a really good man. He's kind to me, and I reciprocate."
Ahead of their 10-year anniversary in 2021, Cibrian told Entertainment Tonight, “You grow as a couple. Every day you find something else that you love about each other. It's wonderful. You have a real companion and somebody who's just there and [who you] trust with everything, they know everything. It's nice to have that."
See what happened with other celeb couples caught up in cheating scandals:
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson
Months after photos caught Stewart in the act with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, the Twilight co-stars called it quits in 2013. Since then, both actors have sunk their teeth into other relationships.
Pattinson and singer FKA Twigs dated for three years until 2017 and a year later, he began seeing Suki Waterhouse. The couple welcomed a baby girl in 2024.
Meanwhile, Stewart went on to date several women—
including Alicia Cargile, St. Vincent and Stella Maxwell—before marrying Dylan Meyer in 2025.
As for Sanders, he and his then-wife, model Liberty Ross, divorced after 10 years and two kids in the aftermath of the scandal.
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck
The Elektra actress and the Argo star announced that they were ending their 10-year marriage in June 2015. A month after the news, allegations that Affleck had an affair with their children's nanny surfaced, prompting the Oscar winner to publicly deny the claims.
Garner later clarified that she and Affleck broke up long before the rumors, telling Vanity Fair in 2016, "We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce."
The Alias alum and the Oscar winner divorced in 2018 and continue to co-parent their three kids: Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
In 2021, Affleck rekindled his '00s relationship with Jennifer Lopez and the two wed the following year. They split in 2024.
Meanwhile, Garner has been dating businessman John Miller on-and-off since 2018.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
Gleb Savchenko & Elena Samodanova
Shortly after announcing their split in November 2020, Samodanova accused her then-estranged husband Savchenko of cheating on her. Fans have speculated that Savchenko and his Dancing With the Stars partner Chrishell Stause were more than just friends, an allegation that both the dancer and the Selling Sunset star denied.
At the time, Savchenko responded to his wife's claims with a statement, saying, "My relationship with Chrishell was and remains strictly platonic. Our friendship during our season on DWTS was not the reason for our split. Elena and I have had longstanding issues in our marriage. This has been an ongoing situation between Elena and I paired with poor timing."
Savchenko and Samodanova—who share daughters Olivia and Zlata—finalized their divorce in October 2021.
Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
Adam Levine & Behati Prinsloo
In September 2022, Instagram model Sumner Stroh went public with claims that she had a year-long affair with the Maroon 5 singer and that he was trying to name his soon-to-arrive third child after her. Levine denied having an affair, but admitted to using "poor judgment" adding that he "crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life."
In the wake of the allegations, Prinsloo stood by her man, with a source close to the couple telling E! News that the Victoria's Secret Angel is "upset but she does believe him that there was no physical affair."
The couple stayed together andwent on to welcome a son, whose name has not been revealed.
Jeffrey Mayer/Getty Images
Jesse James & Sandra Bullock
To the shock of many who witnessed her 2009 Academy Award speech dedicated to the West Coast Choppers founder, Bullock filed for divorce months later after James allegedly participated in an 11-month affair with a tattoo model. At the time, James and Bullock were simultaneously in the process of adopting a child, a boy named Louis.
Since then, the Miss Congeniality star adopted a daughter she named Laila and began a romance with photographer Bryan Randall. He died in 2023 at age 57 after battling ALS.
James married Bonnie Rotten in 2022 and the two welcomed a son the following year. Rotten filed for divorce in 2024, but later requested to have her petition be dismissed.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Nick Young & Iggy Azalea
Even after the couple decided to tough things out amid allegations that the NBA star cheated on the rapper, Azalea eventually called off their engagement in 2016 and admitted to catching Young on security camera footage with other women.
Since then, Young moved on, welcoming three kids with fiancée Keonna Green.
As for Azalea? She, too, became a parent. The "Fancy" hitmaker gave birth to son Onyx with Playboi Carti in 2020.
Lester Cohen/WireImage
Jude Law & Sienna Miller
In 2005, Law publicly apologized to Miller after news broke that he had cheated with his children's caretaker. The pair split the following year, but rekindled their romance in 2009 only to separate again in 2011.
The actor has since gone on to father more children (he has seven total) with different women.
Miller got engaged to Tom Sturridge and welcomed daughter Marlowe with him in 2012. However, the couple split 2015.
The actress went on to welcome another daughter with Oli Green in 2024.
GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images
Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger
In 2011, fans of the longtime couple were shocked to hear that the actor-turned-California governor confessed to fathering a son, Joseph Baena, with the family housekeeper while still married to Shriver. The journalist filed for divorce months after the scandal broke, and a judge signed off on the final judgement of their separation in 2021.
Despite their split, Schwarzenegger and Shriver have maintained friendly relations and their son Patrick Schwarzenegger has even formed a friendship with Joseph.
Allen Berezovsky/WireImage
Ime Udoka & Nia Long
Seven years into his engagement with the actress, Udoka was suspended from his role as head coach of the Boston Celtics for the 2022-2023 season after ESPN, citing multiple sources, reported that he had an "intimate relationship with a female member of the franchise's staff."
In response, Udoka took responsibility for his actions and said in a statement, "I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team's decision."
The pair split in December 2022.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Hank Baskett & Kendra Wilkinson
The former Playboy playmate has said her husband's "naïve and gullible" nature led to an alleged cheating scandal in 2014. Though the pair initially tried to move on from it, Wilkinson—who shares son Hank and daughter Alijah with Baskett—filed for divorce in 2018. Their separation was legally finalized a year later.
David Cannon/Getty Images
Elin Nordegren & Tiger Woods
Following years as the golf world's biggest star, Woods' personal life came to a screeching halt in 2009 when he confessed to cheating on his wife and mother of his two children with multiple women. He later sought treatment for sex addiction, his marriage to the Swedish model dissolved.
Woods went on to date pro skier Lindsey Vonn for three years before their split in 2015. He was linked to Erica Herman before striking up a relationship with Vanessa Trump.
As for Nordegren, she welcomed a son with NFL star Jordan Cameron in 2019.
JB Lacroix/WireImage
Fergie & Josh Duhamel
Only nine months into their marriage, the actor faced allegations he had cheated on the Black Eyed Peas singer. Duhamel called the reported one-night stands "absolutely ridiculous" and Fergie admitted to Oprah Winfrey in a 2013 interview that the setback only made their relationship stronger. The Hollywood couple, parents to son Axl, ultimately split in 2017 after 8 years of marriage.
Duhamel went on to date actress Eiza González before tying the knot with Audra Mari in 2022.
John Shearer/Getty Images
Brandi Glanville & Eddie Cibrian
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star split from her husband of nine years and the father of their two children in 2009, after he had an affair with singer Leann Rimes on the set of the Lifetime movie Northern Lights.
Though Glanville spent years feuding with her ex and his now-wife, the drama between them has since seemingly subsided. As Glanville explained in 2021, "I think we both grew up a lot because obviously, it was a decade of fighting."
Getty Images
Ned Fulmer & Ariel Fulmer
Ned, an original member of The Try Guys, parted ways from the popular YouTube comedy group in September 2022 amid rumors that he had cheated on his wife Ariel with someone from his workplace. In a statement released shortly after his departure, the content creator admitted to having a "consensual workplace relationship" and issued an apology "for any pain that my action may have caused to the guys and the fans but most of all to Ariel."
Ariel, who shares two young sons with Ned, shared in a statement of her own, "Nothing is more important to me and Ned than our family and all we request right now is that you respect our privacy for the sake of our kids."
As of 2025, the couple are still together.
Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Chevrolet Volt
Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott
Fans of True Tori know the couple's roller coaster romance was brought to a head when her husband cheated on her in 2013 while working in Canada. Though the couple, who share five children together, initially moved past the scandal, they split in 2023.
RJ Capak/WireImage
Christie Brinkley & Peter Cook
Amid divorce proceedings and a custody battle over their children, Cook admitted to having an affair with his 18-year-old assistant. His divorce with Brinkley was finalized in 2008 after a contentious two-year legal battle.
Brinkley went on to date John Mellencamp, but split with the singer in 2016 after one year together.
As for Cook, he found himself in another cheating scandal in 2014 when his second wife, Suzanne Shaw, accused him of being a serial cheater and issued an apology to Brinkley for not heeding her advice. Cook and Shaw divorced, and the architect married Alba Jancou in 2023.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Bill Clinton & Hilary Clinton
A year-long "improper physical relationship" between the former U.S. President and White House intern Monica Lewinsky nearly cost him his presidency. Hillary remained by her husband's side throughout the media firestorm that ensued and ran for U.S. President herself in 2016.
Walter McBride/Corbis via Getty Images
David Letterman & Regina Lasko
In 2009, the Late Show host revealed someone was threatening to blackmail him with information that would've revealed his many extramarital relations with female employees on his show. Letterman confirmed the allegations, and issued an apology to his longtime partner and staff. Letterman and Lasko have remained together, and have one son.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for DuJour
Ramona Singer & Mario Singer
After 20 years of marriage, the Real Housewives of New York cast member said goodbye after she caught her husband cheating on her. The reality TV star then turned lemons into pinot grigio, launching her own line of wine and getting involved with AOA Restaurant in the Big Apple.
(Originally published April 3, 2018, at 6 a.m. PT)
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