Miranda Lambert Reflects on the ‘Hard Things’ She’s Been Through With Love: ‘You Get to Know Yourself Better’
Country music icon Miranda Lambert has been through ups and downs in her love life for the public to witness. But even the “hard things” had something to teach her. Read on to learn more about how she found more “balance” after divorce and how finding herself prepared her to meet her husband.
Miranda Lambert’s divorce from Blake Shelton left her in a ‘bad place’
Lambert married fellow country music star Blake Shelton in 2011, but they divorced in 2015. At the time of their split, they were the subjects of cheating rumors. There were allegations both ways — claiming she cheated on him and that he cheated on her.
Whatever the root of their split, Lambert told Esquire her “life was in a bad place” afterward. “I was not at my best emotionally, I was exhausted, I was going through horrible personal things and a very public divorce,” she shared. “And it’s hard because the show must go on …”
Miranda Lambert learned to know and love herself better after divorce
Lambert stayed busy with her country music career and her foundation for the benefit of rescue animals and shelters. But she eventually realized there was more to the rest of her life than working.
“When I turned 30, I started to take life in a new direction and really start to understand myself a little better,” she told PEOPLE. “And going through hard things obviously makes you get to know yourself better.”
She also said, “When you get broken down pretty good, you look at the mirror and you go, ‘I have to spend some time with me, learn who I am and what I want.'”
Lambert realized that life is about balance. She explained, “I’ve been touring for 20 years, and I’ve been everywhere and seen nothing — just a lot of parking lots. I’m trying to use my downtime to really experience life.”
But there is one minor complaint about her line of work. She shared, “I always get the boring months off, and I’m like, ‘Can I just have a sunshiny month off?'”
Miranda Lambert is enjoying life with the love of her husband Brendan McLoughlin
Lambert noted that she “got to a really good place with [herself]” before she met her current husband, Brendan McLoughlin. And her mother, for one, is a fan of their marriage. “Brendan is a good example of a partner,” Beverly June Lambert told PEOPLE. “He walks beside her, not beneath or above her.”
She noted they had the odds stacked against them: “Navigating a new marriage, a pandemic, touring, career changes, family health crises, etc. isn’t easy.”
“But there they are just killin’ it,” she concluded.
And her daughter agreed, noting how well her New York husband assimilated to life on the farm. “He jumped right into this lifestyle — there’s a learning curve taking a New Yorker straight to the woods — but it was a big laugh. It’s nice to have a partner in that, someone by your side that supports you, loves you and believes in you,” she explained.
But, perhaps most importantly, she said. “He loves me for me. It’s a really cool thing to have in my life, at this point in my life.”
