Most Dramatic Breakups in Country Music History
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The country music industry might have created some very long-lasting unions, but it has also stirred up some of the messiest celebrity breakups.
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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Kelly Clarkson & Brandon Blackstock
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 but in 2020, 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.
Tish Cyrus & Billy Ray Cyrus
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.
Kacey Musgraves & Ruston Kelly
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.
Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert
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. There were reports of possible infedilty from both people, conflicting ideals on having children, and that he allegedly drove her out of their home, per Yahoo.
Sara Evans & Craig Schelske
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.
Kenny Chesney & Renée Zellweger
Kenny Chesney and actress Renée Zellweger 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 month, 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.”
Miranda Lambert & Evan Felker
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.
LeAnn Rimes & Dean Sheremet
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 UsMagazine. “I could just tell by the body language that everything had changed… She’s shooting pool, shooting tequila, in a tight tank, tight jeans, 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.”
Shania Twain & Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange
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.
Joe Rooney & Tiffany Fallon
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 alchoholism, unleashing proof that Rooney spent $315,800 on a rehab stint, per People.
Kelsea Ballerini & Morgan Evans
Singer-songwriter couple Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans wed in 2017 and all seemed well until Ballerini filed for divorce in Aug 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 ETOnline.
Ballerini started dating Chase Stokes in January 2023.
Jana Kramer & Mike Caussin
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. All seemed well when they reunited in 2017 but things ended for good in 2021. Kramer later confirmed that Caussin’s continued infidelity drove them to split.
Jason Aldean & Jessica Ussery
After over a decade with Jessica Ussery, Jason Aldean was seen kissing Brittany Kerr (his future second wife), and for some time, they tried to put up a united front, but divorced in 2013.
