The Miranda Lambert Cheating Scandals Explained

Blake Shelton shaded his ex-wife Miranda Lambert in April 2018 when he tweeted, "Been taking the high road for a long time.. I almost gave up. But I can finally see something on the horizon up there!! Wait!! Could it be?! Yep!! It's karma!!" This was a day after Us Weekly broke the news that Lambert was dating Evan Felker.

As a quick explainer, Felker is a member of Turnpike Troubadours, Lambert's opening act at the time. Supposedly, they "started spending a lot more time together while on the road" and while Lambert was in a relationship with Anderson East. Lambert started dating East in 2015, a few months after splitting from Shelton. While the timeline of Lambert and Felker's relationship is muddled, there was speculation that she and East were on the rocks, since they'd stopped posting about each other.

To make matters more complicated, Felker was married to Staci Nelson Felker, with a source claiming Staci "had no other choice but to file for divorce" and was "devastated." In May 2018, In Touch reported Lambert posted on Instagram Story, "PSA: If Staci Felker can make it through this week, so can you." Lambert announced she was "happily single" to The Tennessean by August 2018. However, that all changed in November 2018 when she met Brendan McLoughlin. She revealed they got married in a February 2019 Instagram.

They've seemed happy ever since, but there's a lot of tea to spill when it comes to Lambert's supposed cheating scandals.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert met in 2005 at CMT's 100 Greatest Duets Concert. Shelton was married to his first wife, Kaynette Williams. Lambert acknowledged this during a 2011 Dateline interview with Hoda Kotb when she confessed, "I knew he was married," recalling, "I had seen their wedding picture in Country Weekly. I knew better, like, this is off limits. My parents are private investigators for God's sake. I've seen this my whole life – affairs. Of all people to know better, I know better than this."

During a 2011 episode of Behind the Music, Shelton talked about meeting Lambert, declaring (per Entertainment Weekly), "I've never had that kind of experience with anybody." The Voice judge remarked, "I was a married guy, you know? Standing up there and singing with somebody and going, 'Man, this shouldn't be happening.' Looking back on that, I was falling in love with her, right there on stage." Lambert claimed, "It was just like this draw to each other. It was just sort of this inevitable chemistry."

Once again, the timeline is confusing, with Lambert joking that "it's been three long years already" during a 2008 CMT News interview, which would mean their relationship started up in 2005 — not 2006 when Shelton and Williams filed for divorce. Ironically, Shelton fueled rumors that Lambert cheated on him when he released the 2016 song "She's Got a Way With Words," where he sang about a "lying" and "cheating" ex.

Back in March 2015, Radar Online reported Miranda Lambert and country singer Chris Young were "acting like a couple" and "were really into each other" at a Nashville bar. Young was Lamber's opening act during her tour in 2012. An inside source told the website, "Miranda and Chris' bond has bothered [Blake Shelton] on occasion, but he doesn't think anything serious is going on."

In July 2015, Young addressed the affair rumors by releasing a statement to Twitter, writing, "I don't normally address gossip but in this case I will. My name has been mentioned as a contributing factor in Blake and Miranda's divorce. That is totally FALSE. They are both my friends and I would not betray that friendship. Just wanted to clear that up."

Young also discussed the cheating claims during an August 2015 interview with Entertainment Tonight, admitting, "Man it sucks that I got put in this situation with two people who are my friends. It's just so weird getting pulled into something like that where it just wasn't true." He shared, "I have not seen them, [but] I've definitely texted and called both of them" since the cheating rumors began. Ironically, he added, "I was in touch with Blake all day that day," referencing the day the story broke. 

Even in the midst of infidelity allegations, Young managed to maintain his friendships with Lambert and Shelton, remarking, "They're both really great friends still, so it's just one of those things."

Although Blake Shelton was married when he met Miranda Lambert, it's unclear when Shelton and Lambert's romance actually started. However, the love triangle perpetuated in the media might've actually been a square — or at least that's what Lambert's ex-fiancé Jeff Allen McManus claims.

In April 2018, Us Weekly reported McManus posted (and deleted) a response to Shelton's "karma" tweet: "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." Another deleted tweet read, "I kept my mouth shut for 13 years. Sorry, his karma tweet rubbed me wrong. All of this is pointless."

McManus spoke to Radar Online about Lambert and Shelton's alleged affair and Shelton's Twitter shade, remarking, "I'd opened shows for him and knew people around town that knew him and I'd just never said anything. But his tweet just rubbed me up so much." He declared, "I'm sure Miranda did [Blake] dirty just like she did me, but he wasn't thinking about me when he was cheating with her, so I don't know why he thinks it's karma."

Lambert prefers to keep her love life private, but that won't stop people from speculating and throwing shade, especially her exes.