Who Is Kurt Warner's Wife? All About Brenda Warner

Kurt Warner and Brenda Warner wed in 1997

Brenda Warner is Kurt Warner's No. 1 cheerleader.

Kurt has had a successful career both on and off the field — going from a free agent to being twice crowned the NFL's Most Valuable Player. He also won his first Super Bowl ring after leading the St. Louis Rams to victory in 2000. In 2010, Kurt competed on season 11 of Dancing with the Stars and credited his wife for helping him achieve his dreams.

"One of the things I'm grateful for is that Brenda gave up her passions to allow me to chase mine," Kurt told PEOPLE in December 2021. "She had to put her career and her dreams on hold."

In the 2021 biopic American Underdog, which documents their love story, Kurt and Brenda are depicted by Zachary Levi and Anna Paquin. The couple have been married since 1997 and share seven children, two of whom Kurt adopted from Brenda's previous marriage.

As their children have gotten older, the Warners shared with PEOPLE that they are looking forward to more alone time as a couple.

"One crazy thing about our journey is that we've never been alone together from the day we met," Kurt said. "But we're close to being empty nesters, so we're looking forward to when we get to be together — and just be us."

So, who is Kurt Warner's wife? Here's everything to know about Brenda Warner and her relationship with the former quarterback.

She met Kurt while line dancing

Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Brenda grew up on a farm in Iowa and later met Kurt while line dancing at a country western bar in northern Iowa in the early '90s. She was four years his senior, and the then-21-year-old Kurt was a student at the University of Northern Iowa, where he played quarterback and harbored dreams of playing in the NFL.

Brenda told PEOPLE in 2021 that she wasn't looking for love at the time — she had recently gotten divorced — and had only started line dancing because her mom, who enjoyed line dancing herself, encouraged her to get out of the house.

"Timing, fate, whatever you want to say, that dance ends with us partnered up," Kurt added. "I asked her to keep dancing, and that's really how this whole thing started, a chance meeting when she didn't want to go out, I didn't want to, and somebody forced us to go out, and all of this came from it."

She has two children from a previous marriage

Before meeting Kurt, Brenda was married to a fellow Marine, with whom she had two children: Zachary and Jesse Jo.

In 1989, when Zachary was 4 months old, her then-husband accidentally dropped their son in the bathtub, leaving him blind and with a serious brain injury. Brenda took a hardship discharge from the Marines to care for Zachary.

"The world we live in, accidents happen," Brenda told Risen in 2018. "God's going to give me the strength to raise this boy. Now? I actually feel like I did get a miracle. It just didn't look like the same miracle I had asked for, that Zack would be completely healed. But my son is a living miracle. He's changing lives, like I want all my kids to do. He's making a difference in this world, even if he's living with disabilities."

Brenda and her first husband eventually divorced.

She knew Kurt was "worthy" of her love after he met her son

A relationship was not on Brenda's radar when she first met Kurt.

"I did not want to meet a man," she told PEOPLE in 2021. "I was going to nursing school. I was discharged from the Marine Corps, a single mom on food stamps. It was a tough time in my life."

However, Kurt asked a mutual friend for Brenda's address and went to her house the day after they met. She then introduced him to a 3-year-old Zack.

"When I walked out, and he was wrestling on the floor with Zack, the way he looked at my son with pure love, no judgment, no expectation, just loved him, that's all it took for me," Brenda said. "He fell in love with my kids before he fell in love with me. That's when I knew he was worthy of being in our lives, of our love."

She married Kurt in 1997

Brenda and Kurt married on Oct. 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Their choice of venue was sentimental — it was the same church where Brenda's parents, who died a year prior in a tornado, were married.

They were joined by friends and family, and in 2021, Brenda shared a video of a young Zack singing Tracy Byrd's "The Keeper of the Stars" to Kurt at their wedding reception.

In October 2023, the couple celebrated 26 years of marriage.

"If I had to choose again I would still choose you. He sees me completely and loves me fully," Brenda wrote on Instagram. In another anniversary post, she added: "26 years of marriage looks older, feels better, walks slower and naps regularly, together."

She has five more children with Kurt

After Brenda and Kurt tied the knot, Kurt adopted Zack and Jesse Jo. The couple went on to have five more children: Kade, Jada Jo, Elijah Storm and twins Sierra Rose and Sienna Rae. The couple also has two grandchildren.

Brenda has shared photos on Instagram of her family attending the American Underdog premiere in December 2021, celebrating Elijah's graduation in May 2022 and competing on Celebrity Family Feud in August 2022, among other family activities.

"My family. A beautiful mess. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️," Brenda once captioned a family portrait with Kurt, along with all their children and grandchildren.

She makes jewelry

Brenda is passionate about metal art and took up the craft later in life.

"When I was getting ready to turn 50, my mom was killed at 50 years old, and so it was just so heavy on me thinking she didn't get any more time than that," she told PEOPLE in 2021. "And I thought, 'What would I do if I didn't care what anybody thought?' I realized that I always loved metal. I loved metal art, not having a clue how to make it."

She continued, "I went and watched somebody weld, went and bought all the equipment, and went home and taught myself. I love sharing it with people. It's something that I didn't know existed until this later part in my life."

Her Instagram account, MetalArt By B, is devoted to her creations that she also sells.

She co-founded Treasure House Phoenix with Kurt

In August 2018, Brenda and Kurt opened Treasure House Phoenix — an active living community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Brenda and Kurt sit on the board of Treasure House and frequently fundraise for the organization, using the proceeds from her metal art.

"With inspiration from Zack, they envisioned a community where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities could come together to overcome perceived challenges, develop meaningful relationships and contribute their gifts to society," reads the Treasure House website.

Brenda also gave insight into why she and Kurt champion the cause.

"These 29 residents can put their stuff in their apartments and invite a friend over for a Coke; they can wake up and say I'm going to work; they can say 'do you want to dance tonight?' " she said at a fundraising event. "I am the mother of a child that deserves to be seen, deserves to be heard, deserves to be enjoyed and deserves a full life."

She worked on American Underdog with Kurt

While American Underdog primarily follows her husband's football career, Brenda — portrayed by Paquin — has a prominent role. Both Brenda and Kurt played a part in getting the movie off the ground as executive producers.

"We've been working on the project for about 10 years," Kurt told Forbes in December 2021, ahead of the film's release.

Brenda explained that the relationship between Kurt and their children was the most important aspect of their lives for the movie to get right.

"When Kurt met [Zack] … it was the first time I didn't have to explain his disability. It just really kind of shocked me, but it also endeared me because there's something special about this guy, so that was important that they got that right for me."

Levi, who plays Kurt in the film, told PEOPLE in 2021 that he "was dying to get as much right as" possible.

"I nailed as much of that football stuff as I could to the best of my ability, which I felt good about," the actor said.

The two leads also had the chance to meet and connect with the couple.

"I now have this amazing, really cool friend named Brenda who I get to keep forever," Paquin told PEOPLE. "[The Warners] are even nicer and more amazing in real life. And that sounds ridiculous because they're amazing on paper."

She wrote a memoir about her family

In 2011, Brenda published her memoir One Call Away: Answering Life's Challenges with Unshakable Faith, in which she discusses her family, marriage and faith.

Brenda commemorated the release of her book eight years later.

"My memoir was published 8 years ago, my version of my life with my good, bad and ugly," she tweeted in May 2019. "Still today I get messages from people of how it impacted their life. For that I am grateful."

Brenda and Kurt previously co-wrote the 2009 New York Times best seller First Things First: The Rules of Being a Warner, where they talked about raising kids, their relationship, background and much more.

Brenda was also booked as a public speaker for the Women of Faith conference in 2011, per The Oklahoman.

She and Kurt attended the 2024 NFL Honors

In February 2024, the couple attended the NFL Honors in Las Vegas. Brenda dazzled in a blue sequin gown, while Kurt complemented his wife in a two-toned blue suit.

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