What Happened in Kenny Chesney's Marriage?
He may sing about "all the pretty girls" at sold-out arena shows around the world, but Kenny Chesney, 50, has done his best to keep his love life pretty private. But despite his best efforts, there was one relationship that was hard for him to keep under wraps-his four-month marriage to Renee Zellweger back in 2005.
While Kenny and Renee, 48, have never really opened up about their time together, we know it was a whirlwind romance and marriage-one that ended in an annulment for unclear reasons. But before Renee called their wedding the "biggest mistake of my life," the two certainly seemed swept up in all the love.
The country crooner and Oscar winner first met at NBC's Concert of Hope tsunami telethon in January of 2005, according to People. And while Renee told Jay Leno there weren't fireworks that night, the two still exchanged numbers. When Jay asked her if it was love at first sight, she responded: "No, I was concentrating. I was doing my job. I mean it was nice. He came over and said, ‘hi’ afterward.”
The two weren't spotted together often, however Renee did attend one of his concerts in Jacksonville, Florida and even gave him a margarita, followed by a kiss, on stage.
Kenny, on the other hand, made his affections known years before they'd even met when he wrote the 1999 hit "You Had Me From Hello," a song inspired by Renee's famous line from Jerry Maguire.
Just a few months after meeting, the pair wed on May 9 on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was a small, beach ceremony with just 45 close friends and family members. It was a beautiful wedding, but the relationship was over by September when Renee filed for an annulment.
When the pair split, Renee cited "fraud" as the reason, which fueled rumors that something had gone terribly wrong or that Kenny had lied to her about his sexuality-but she later clarified, saying it was "simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny’s character.”
They later released a joint statement explaining their split was due to "differences." "The miscommunication of the objective of their marriage at the start is the only reason for this annulment," the statement read. "Renee and Kenny value and respect each other and are saddened that their different objectives prevent the success of this marriage.”
A couple years later, Kenny chimed in, in the hopes he could finally put certain rumors to rest. "Maybe I should have come out and said, 'No, I'm not [gay],' but I didn't want to draw any more attention to it," he told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. "It's not true. Period."
Since then, the 2018 ACM Awards performer has been linked to several women including a woman named Mary Nolan, ESPN reporter Jean Brown, and more recently Runaway June singer Naomi Cooke.
The best Malibu dinner ever ❤️
A post shared by @ jenniferwayne on Jul 23, 2017 at 6:43pm PDT
Kenny has said that he hopes to get married again one day-and have kids also-but that he has worries about it, too. "[I] felt that the idea of marriage made me lose my identity ... I just don’t know that I’ve found anybody bigger than that,” he told Oprah in 2010.
And while he wishes he had filed for a divorce-rather than an annulment-he doesn't regret getting married. "Even though I'd sit here and say 'I wish we'd gotten divorced instead of all that annulment stuff' and saved me a lot of public humiliation and I still don't have any regrets," he said. "I mean … I loved her, you know? And it was real."
You Might Also Like
