Scandalous Country Music Romances That Have Been Plagued By Cheating Rumors

No one is perfect, and romantic trouble can happen to us all. But sometimes things can really reach a (heart)breaking point when a partner is unfaithful. Those situations are filled with such emotion and so (sadly) recognizable to so many, they seem to make for some pretty good fodder for songwriters. Country music is filled with tales of cheating partners: "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood, "The Last One To Know" by Reba McEntire, "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams — the list could go on and on.

And cheating in the country world certainly extends to beyond just scenarios set to music. There are a number of high profile country singers who are as associated with cheating as they are with their music. And those associations didn't always come up by chance. While some rumors may certainly be unfounded, there's still the ongoing idea that a cheater's always a cheater. While we don't have all of the facts and never could (since you never really know what's happening behind closed doors in anyone's relationship), here's what we do know about some of the country music world's most scandalous romances and the rumors that have followed musicians, sometimes for years.

Country singer LeAnn Rimes and actor Eddie Cibrian first met as they were working on the 2009 Lifetime TV movie "Northern Lights." They were both married to other people at the time — Rimes to Dean Sheremet and Cibrian to Brandi Glanville. When the two first faced gossip about whether they'd gotten together on set or in the days after filming, there were denials of any affair. But they continued to face accusations of cheating. And as it turns out, those accusations weren't just rumors. After they'd both separated from their spouses, they talked about having cheated.

In 2010, Rimes told People about it, saying: "I did one of the most selfish things that I possibly could do, in hurting someone else. I take responsibility for everything I've done. I hate that people got hurt, but I don't regret the outcome. [...] I never once thought what I was doing was okay."

The two ended up getting married in 2011, and the relationship between Rimes and Cibrian is still going strong. Glanville wrote about her experience being cheated on for The Sun in 2021. She talked about being jealous of him while they were married and having her suspicions about his infidelity. It was seeing a magazine cover with Rimes and Cibrian kissing that confirmed her concerns. "It was devastating," I went straight home, passed out in my closet, cried and cried. He tried to convince me it wasn't real but I knew it was over." Glanville has also accused Cibrian of having cheated on her with Piper Perabo in 2005, which he's denied.

Blake Shelton is a big time country music star. For years, though, Shelton has had people talk about whether or not he's stayed faithful to his partners as much as they've talked about his music. It all gets a bit messy. It starts with Miranda Lambert, a country star in her own right (and with her own cheating accusations). The two were a country power couple if there ever was one — Lambert and Shelton had a Texas country wedding in 2011. However, when Shelton and Lambert first met in 2005, he was married to his high school sweetheart Kaynette Williams. And Lambert was engaged to Jeff Allen, another (less well-known) country singer. Their relationships with those people fell apart and Shelton and Lambert got together.

But that was hardly the end of the infidelity rumors swirling around Shelton and Lambert. Even after their marriage, there was talk that their relationship wasn't on a firm footing. That was perhaps most accelerated by Shelton starting to publicly date Gwen Stefani, a fellow judge on "The Voice," just a handful of months after his relationship with Lambert came to an end — the country couple confirmed their split in July 2015 and Shelton and Stefani went out, seemingly as a couple, in October 2015.

Then there was the talk that Lambert had stepped out on Shelton. Some suspected Chris Young, a country singer who was on her 2012 tour though there were also talk about it being someone else, and that it was Lambert's behavior with that unnamed man that triggered the end of her marriage with Shelton.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert both went on to find love with other people. You'd think that over time, everyone would move on, but in 2018 Shelton seemed to get fired up with the whispers that Lambert had started seeing Evan Felker, lead singer for the Turnpike Troubadours, while he was still married and she was still dating Anderson East. Shelton posted about "karma," and even though he didn't mention Lambert directly, it clearly rubbed Jeff Allen the wrong way.

Allen fired off in a post in a now-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter, (via Us Weekly): "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."

However, things don't end there for Lambert's continued relationship drama. After ending things with Felker, Lambert married Brendan McCloughlin, an officer with the New York Police Department, in February 2019, just a couple of months after they first met. Lambert and McCloughlin may have first gotten together at the same time that he was dating (at least) one other person; while we may not know for sure what happened, we do know he had a child with another woman in November 2018, the same month he and Lambert met. Fast forward summer 2024, McLoughlin was seen on a video on TikTok getting quite close to a woman on a dance floor; a woman who is decidedly not Lambert.

Jason Aldean has had his fair share of controversy, including how he got together with his current wife, Brittany Aldean. Jason came onto the country scene in 2005 with singles from his first, self-titled album making it high on the country charts, and at the time, he was married to his high school sweetheart Jessica Ussery, and had been for four years. Fast forward to 2012. Jason and Ussery were still married, and Brittany had made it to Hollywood for Season 11 of "American Idol." But Jason and Brittany were seen kissing at a bar in Los Angeles.

Jason issued an apology on social media after the pictures were made public, saying: "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," via Facebook. Brittany apologized via TMZ for the incident. However, despite apologies, there were still rumors the two had more going on than just a one time drunken mistake especially when Jason divorced Ussery in 2013. In early 2014, Jason and Brittany started dating publicly. By September of that year, they were engaged, and by March 2015, they were married.

Critics still came after Jason for how his relationship with Brittany started. But he told People that they didn't understand the real story (though he also didn't fully explain what it was). "I'm not going to spend all my time defending myself," Aldean said. "I am what I am."

One of Johnny Cash's most famous songs is "I Walk the Line" in which he sings, "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine." But he didn't keep quite as close a watch on it as his first wife, Vivian Liberto, wanted him to. Talk spread about Cash's exploits with other women, and it proved to be more than just talk when it came to Cash's relationship with June Carter.

In 1956, singers Carter and Cash first met. At the time, Carter had been married to Carl Smith for four years (though they'd divorce that same year), and Carter had been married to Liberto for two years. Carter married Edwin Nix in 1957. As both Carter and Cash's careers continued to grow, Carter was a frequent performer on Cash's tours. Liberto suspected a romantic relationship between the two of them and, in 1966, she filed for divorce. Carter divorced her second husband the same year. Two years later, Cash publicly proposed to Carter on stage during a concert, and they stay married for 35 years until Carter's death in 2003.

Carter has talked about the stress of the start of her relationship with Cash. "I was miserable, and it all came to me: I'm falling in love with somebody I have no right to fall in love with," according to Rolling Stone. Carter was also said to have had a dalliance with Elvis Presley; however, that really was just talk.