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November 18, 2024 at 4:43pm EST
The country music industry might have created some very long-lasting unions, but it has also stirred up some of the messiest celebrity breakups.
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When you think about country music, you think about good times, soulful songs, and all the love that comes out of it. Of course, there’s the darker side of the beloved music: the heartbreak. You hear about it in the songs and see depictions of it in the music videos. While we have couples like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill proving that some love can last, and some forgotten country music couples that we totally forgot ever dated, there are also some heartbreaks that we are never getting over.
Within the past few years, fans have seen the messy splits between Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans, along with Jana Kramer and Mike Caussin. But the ultra-messy ones may have happened years prior (yes, we’re talking about the love square drama with Shania Twain and Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange).
From rumors of infidelity and messy divorce clauses to some seriously disturbing splits like Twain and Lange’s that people talk about over a decade later, the country world isn’t without controversy, and heartbreak.
Check out the most dramatic, shocking splits and divorces in the country music world below:
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Zach Bryan & Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ LaPaglia
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images
After a year into their relationship, country singer Zach Bryan announced his split with social media star Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia in October 2024.
“Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with [each other] and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart,” the country star wrote on Instagram Stories. “She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her.”
“I have had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things,” he continued. “I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways. I am not perfect and never will be. Please respect Brianna’s privacy and space in this and if you have it in your heart, mine too.”
LaPaglia also spoke out on social media at the time. “Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I’m ready I’ll be back and ready to talk,” she wrote. “I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be okay.”
Soon after, LaPaglia came forward with allegations that Bryan emotionally abused her throughout their romance.
“The last year of my life has been the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude,” LaPaglia admitted during her BFFs podcast on Nov. 7, 2024. “I’m still scared right now because I’m scared of him still. My brain’s rewired. I’m scared to make him mad.”
Among LaPaglia’s accusations against her ex-boyfriend was him degrading her outfit at the 2024 Golden Globes and his team offering to pay her $12 million for her silence following their split. She refused to accept the money.
Bryan has yet to respond to the accusations.
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Kelly Clarkson & Brandon Blackstock
Image Credit: Rob Latour/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
We all believed Kelly Clarkson had found her happily ever after when she started dating Brandon Blackstock in 2012. The couple married in 2012 and soon welcomed two kids. In 2020, however, Clarkson filed for divorce.
Things quickly went awry when they fought over Clarkson’s Montana ranch, entertainment commissions, and more. While their divorce was finalized in 2022, legal disputes over Blackstock’s managing of Clarkson’s career are ongoing.
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Tish Cyrus & Billy Ray Cyrus
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
Miley Cyrus’ parents had many ups and downs in their 29-year marriage. The pair filed for divorce three whole times before sealing the deal in 2022. Tish filed in 2010 and 2013 but reconciled with the country star each time before finally following through on her filing in 2022.
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Kacey Musgraves & Ruston Kelly
Image Credit: Timothy Norris/Getty Images for for Universal Music Group
Kacey Musgraves and Ruston Kelly’s 2020 separation after three years of marriage left fans hoping for a reconciliation after the duo appeared to be on good terms and even exchanged cryptic tweets appearing to insinuate that they could get back together.
Kelly later revealed, in a 2023 interview, that he tried to win his ex back and even proposed to her again but she said no.
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Miranda Lambert & Evan Felker
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Penske Media, Presley Ann/Getty Images for Stagecoach
Country music fans were blindsided when news broke that Miranda Lambert was dating Turnpike Troubadours member Evan Felker, despite both being in relationships. 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 in 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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Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert
Image Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert’s relationship was riddled with controversy from the start. Years before their split, insiders claimed he had an inappropriate relationship with a singer named Cady Groves, and while he denied this, it stayed in people’s minds.
In 2015, Shelton and Lambert announced their split after four years of marriage. While everything seemed amicable at first, Shelton soon shaded his ex on social media.
“Been taking the high road for a long time,” Shelton wrote on X after Lambert’s affair with Evan Felker hit the news, per Us Weekly. “I almost gave up. But I can finally see something on the horizon up there!! Wait!! Could it be?! Yep!! It’s karma!!”
Lambert’s ex Jeff Allen then also took to social media to accuse the pair of starting their relationship when he and Lambert were still together.
“You know, I’ve always given you the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up to just being human, But you must be one arrogant SOB to pop off something like this when I know damn good and well you were cheating on your wife and Miranda was cheating on me when you two started up,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “I kept my mouth shut for 13 years. Sorry, his karma tweet rubbed me wrong. All of this is pointless.”
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Sara Evans & Craig Schelske
Image Credit: Frank Mullen/WireImage via Getty Images
Fans knew something was amiss when Sara Evans suddenly withdrew from Dancing With the Stars in 2006. She filed for divorce from her husband Craig Schelske later that day. The couple had been married since 1993.
Things got messy when Evans claimed in court docs that Schelske “frequently verbally abused, emotionally abused and harassed” her and alleged that she found several photographs of him being intimate with other women.
Evans was eventually awarded primary custody of their three children after agreeing to pay her ex $600,000 in alimony.
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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 ill-fated union still feels hard to wrap our heads around.
The couple married in 2005 after just a few months of dating but things quickly turned sour when Zellweger filed to annul the marriage after four months, citing fraud.
Quickly, rumors emerged that Zellweger’s fraud claims were because Chesney was secretly gay, which both later denied.
“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.
In 2016, Zellweger told The Advocate that “fraud” was simply legal language, she said: “It made me sad that somehow people were using that as a way to be cruel and calling someone gay as a pejorative, which has fateful consequences.”
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LeAnn Rimes & Dean Sheremet
Image Credit: Steve Eichner/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images
From 2002 until 2009, LeAnn Rimes and Dean Sheremet were one of country music’s most adorable couples. However, amid reports that Rimes’ acting career was causing the couple to drift apart, things fell apart when it came out that Rimes was having an affair with her Northern Lights Eddie Cibrian, who was also married at the time. She and Sheremet finalized their divorce in 2011.
“I’ll never forget this, there was this bar that everyone hung out at after set and I remember coming down the stairs and seeing the two of them shooting pool together,” Sheremet recalled about the moment he knew something was wrong, per Us Weekly. “I could just tell by the body language that everything had changed… She’s shooting pool, shooting tequila, in a tight tank, tight jeans, and over-the-knee boots and she’s standing across from him, playing with the pool cue. All of a sudden, there was a huge shift.”
Rimes and Cibrian got married later that year in 2011.
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Shania Twain & Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange
Image Credit: Gareth Davies/Getty Images
Shania Twain and Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange’s romance seemed like a match made in country music heaven. He reached out to her to produce and write songs with her, and they were an amazing team. They got married six months after meeting face-to-face, and later welcomed a son.
However, things got messy when news broke in 2008, after 15 years together, that he cheated on her with her best friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud. They divorced in 2010, and she moved on with Marie Anne’s ex-husband Frédéric Thiébaud. They’ve been married since 2011.
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Joe Rooney & Tiffany Fallon
Image Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Rascal Flatts member Joe Rooney and Tiffany Fallon married in 2006 and went on to welcome two kids. However, news broke in 2021 that the couple were splitting and a messy divorce ensued.
In court documents, each accused the other of adultery and Fallon accused Rooney of alcoholism, unleashing proof that Rooney spent $315,800 on a four-month rehab stint, per People.
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Kelsea Ballerini & Morgan Evans
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images
Singer-songwriter couple Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans wed in 2017 and all seemed well until Ballerini filed for divorce in August 2022. Soon after, Evans hinted that he never saw the split coming in his music, which prompted Ballerini to respond in a 2022 interview, saying: “As he’s putting out a song about being blindsided, he’s taking half the house he didn’t pay for,” per Entertainment Tonight.
Ballerini started dating Chase Stokes in January 2023.
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Jana Kramer & Mike Caussin
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Jana Kramer and Mike Caussin were married for two years when they hit a major relationship hurdle in 2016, separating amid Caussin’s infidelity and rehabilitation for sex addiction.
“Four years ago, yesterday was discovery day. That was the day that Jana found out about all the s— I was doing,” the former NFL player looked back in 2020, per Us Weekly. “It was a life-changing, really bad day, obviously, for both of us, but we were able to lean into each other and connect over it and have gratitude for where we are at now compared to four years ago.”
As you can tell by his statement, the two eventually got back together in 2017. But 2021, however, they split for good.
According to Kramer, Caussin’s pattern of infidelity and his relapses in addiction left her no choice but to call it quits.
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Jason Aldean & Jessica Ussery
Image Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage
After over a decade of marriage with his first wife Jessica Ussery, Jason Aldean was seen kissing Brittany Kerr in 2012.
“The truth is that I screwed up. I had too much to drink, let the party get out of hand and acted inappropriately at a bar,” the singer wrote in a statement at the time, per Us Weekly. “I left alone, caught the bus to our next show and that’s the end of the story. I ultimately ended up embarrassing my family and myself. I’m not perfect, and I’m sorry for disappointing you guys. I really appreciate being able to work through this privately with my family and for all your continued support.”
Despite initially putting up a united front, Aldean filed for divorce from Ussery a year later in April 2013.
“This is a really tough time for my entire family,” Aldean told Us Weekly. “Jessica and I have been together since we were teenagers. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs over the years as we grew up together as a couple. She will always be important to me because she is the mother of my children, and I know that we will both always make our daughters our No. 1 priority.”
By March 2014, Aldean confirmed his romance with Kerr. In 2015, they got married.
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