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November 20, 2024 at 3:58pm EST
The country music industry has managed to create some of the longest celebrity marriages there are — we’re looking at you Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. And it has given rise to some very messy breakups that have divided fanbases — sorry, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. But there are also some country music relationships that managed to float almost entirely under the radar.
Whether it is because these stars kept their flings under wraps until long after they ended, or because some country stars have had romances so famous that all their past relationships were forgotten, we often forget some of these country music stars ever dated.
Take Shelton, for example, aside from his successful music career, the Oklahoma native is perhaps best known for two things — his marriage to Miranda Lambert (and their messy divorce), and his subsequent marriage to Gwen Stefani. But could you name his first love?
Or what about Chely Wright? Her brave decision to come out in 2010, before marrying Lauren Blitzer the following year, made her past relationships with men slip into oblivion. But some fans will remember her relationship with Brad Paisley, a brief but powerful country music union.
Whether it was a totally secret romance or a relationship so brief we barely noticed it happening, here are all the country music couples you may have forgotten about.
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Miranda Lambert & Evan Felker
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Penske Media, Presley Ann/Getty Images for Stagecoach
Country music fans were totally surprised when news broke in February 2018 that Miranda Lambert was dating Turnpike Troubadours member Evan Felker, despite both being in relationships. At the time, Lambert was still linked to Anderson East while Felker had been married to Staci Felker since 2016.
The Felkers quickly divorced but the world was shocked once again when Lambert announced months later in August 2018 that she was “happily single.”
In 2021, the Felkers announced that they had secretly reconciled and welcomed their first baby.
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Carrie Underwood & Tony Romo
Image Credit: Bryan Bedder for PMC, Kristin Callahan/Everett Collection
Carrie Underwood‘s post-American Idol career was just heating up when she started dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in early 2007, causing quite a stir in the tabloids.
But when their romance ended after a few months, Romo moved on to a two-year romance with Jessica Simpson which certainly dominated headlines more than his short-lived fling with Underwood.
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Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough
Image Credit: James Atoa/Everett Collection
Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough were a match made in dancing heaven when they fell in love while they danced together on Dancing With The Stars in 2008. The pair split the following year, after a whirlwind romance, a home purchase and plenty of red carpets.
Wicks opened up about the split during a 2020 episode of his podcast. “It wasn’t fine,” he told People. “S– hit the fan. I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus but… It wasn’t my fault.”
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Blake Shelton & Kaynette Williams
Image Credit: M. Caulfield/WireImage for Academy of Country Music
When you think of Blake Shelton’s public romances, your mind probably goes straight to his wife Gwen Stefani or his high-profile divorce from Miranda Lambert. But, when Shelton first became a household name, he was still married to his high school sweetheart Kaynette Williams.
The couple married in 2003 after years of dating and divorced in 2005.
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Kenny Chesney & Renée Zellweger
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety, Roger Kisby for WWD
Kenny Chesney and actress Renée Zellweger’s 2005 wedding, after just a few months of dating, was as hard to wrap our heads around then as it is now. But the world was even more shocked when the Bridget Jones’s Diary star filed to annul the union just four months later, citing fraud.
The split exacerbated rumors that Chesney was gay, which he and Zellweger shut down in the years after the breakup.
“Maybe I should’ve come out and said that, ‘No, I’m not.’ But I didn’t want to draw any more attention to it, you know, ’cause I knew I wasn’t … it’s not true, period,” Chesney told 60 Minutes in 2007.
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Keith Urban & Nikki Taylor
Image Credit: Stewart Cook/WWD, Jay Brady/Everett Collection
It is hard to remember Keith Urban before Nicole Kidman but there was once another Nikki in his life.
Urban and Taylor’s 2002 relationship was very private and barely made headlines but it must have been somewhat serious because the pair got matching tattoos – “Amor Vincit Omnia,” Latin for “Love conquers all” – which both have either removed or covered up.
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Brad Paisley & Chely Wright
Image Credit: Ron Wolfson/Everett Collection
A decade before coming out as gay, Chely Wright briefly dated fellow country star Brad Paisley. In 2010, Wright reflected on the romance and shared her remorse at forcing herself to be with Paisley while trying to repress her sexuality.
“I have a lot of regret for how that began and had a middle and ended,” she admitted on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. “I had no business being in a relationship with him … I was making a deal again with myself: ‘Well, Chel, you’ll forego love. You’ll go without love. Find someone with whom you can spend your life that makes you laugh, that you like how they live their life, that you can share a life with.'”
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Jessie James Decker & Chase Rice
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores for Variety, Derek Storm/Everett Collection
While these two talented singers did make out in the music video for Rice’s song “Buzz Back Girl,” no one knew they actually dated until Rice revealed the romance years later.
The singer never specified how long they dated but the music video was released in 2011.
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Ryan Key & Kelly Clarkson
Image Credit: M. Caulfield/WireImage for Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Kelly Clarkson’s most public relationship is, of course, her Brandon Blackstock marriage (and divorce). But, in her early days, she did have a few short-lived flings, including with Yellowcard lead singer Ryan Key in 2006.
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Carrie Underwood & Chase Crawford
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores for Variety, Fairchild Archive/Penske Media
Carrie Underwood’s romance with Gossip Girl star Chase Crawford was beloved by their teen fans but almost slipped under the radar. The couple started dating in May 2007 and broke up in April 2008.
“It was completely mutual,” Underwood told Extra, via People, that month. “We broke up over text so … it’s like ‘peace out.'”
“It just didn’t work,” she said. “We both knew it didn’t work and [had] no hard feelings at all whatsoever.”
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Brantley Gilbert & Jana Kramer
Image Credit: Jerod Harris/ACMA2013/Getty Images for ACM
Brantley Gilbert and Jana Kramer first fell for one another in 2011, after meeting at the CMT Awards, and got engaged within six months. But their whirlwind romance ended in August 2012.
Kramer opened up about the romance in a 2020 episode of her podcast with then-husband Mike Caussin.
“I wasn’t the best version of myself in that relationship. I just wasn’t,” she said. “I always have a little bit of regret that I didn’t handle things better.”
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Wynonna Judd & Dwight Yoakam
Image Credit: Tammie Arroyo for Variety, David Buchan/Variety
Wynonna Judd and Dwight Yoakam had a secret fling back in the late 80s but their romance wasn’t revealed until Wynonna’s late mom, Naomi, spilled the beans.
“He dated Wynonna when we were first on the road. “And he was opening for us, and we were touring together, and there was a little romantic thing going on,” she said, per Thunder 104.5.
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Dwight Yoakam & Sharon Stone
Image Credit: Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
After things ended with Judd, Yoakam moved on to another high-profile but often forgotten romance with Sharon Stone. Yoakam accompanied Stone to the Oscars in 1992 but their romance ended soon after.
Stone later described kissing Yoakam as a “dirt sandwich.”
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