The Shady Side Of Miranda Lambert's Husband

Miranda Lambert's love life is literally the stuff country songs are made of. After winning Nashville Star in 2003, her career took off, and after marrying country superstar Blake Shelton in 2011, her career hit the stratosphere. Shelton and Lambert were married for four years. These days, he's happily engaged to Gwen Stefani and Lambert has been married to former New York City police officer Brendan McLoughlin since late January 2019, YourTango reports.

Lambert was performing on Good Morning America when she and McLoughlin met in November 2018, per The Boot. By Valentine's Day the following year, they were married. Lambert took to Instagram to share the happy news, writing, "I met the love of my life. And we got hitched! My heart is full. Thank you Brendan McLoughlin for loving me for.... Me."

As mentioned, McLoughlin is a former NYPD officer, which might have attracted Lambert in the first place. Growing up, Lambert's parents ran a detective agency, The Boot reported. McLoughlin was an aspiring model before becoming a police officer, and his old Model Mayhem profile is still available. McLoughlin is eight years younger than his famous wife. The native New Yorker has gone a little bit country since meeting Lambert and splits his time with his wife between Tennessee and New York.

But, as in love as these two seem, there are some odd things about McLoughlin. Some might even call these things shady.

Brendan McLoughlin appears to be quite the ladies' man. In November 2018, the same month he met and fell for Miranda Lambert, McLoughlin had a son with his ex-girlfriend, New York City attorney Kaihla Rettinger, according to Heavy. In fact, Rettinger gave birth to McLoughin's son three days after he met Lambert, YourTango reports.

But that's not even the shadiest part of the situation. While McLoughlin was romancing Lambert and having a baby with Rettinger, he was also engaged to another woman, former pro soccer player Jackie Bruno, as Heavy reported.

But wait, there's more! (Seriously.) McLoughlin's love life is as complicated and worthy of a country song as Lambert's! Bruno broke up with McLoughin after she found out he had cheated on her with Rettinger. According to US Weekly, Rettinger called Bruno to break the news that she was pregnant and the daddy was McLoughlin. Bruno's mother Carol told US Weekly that McLoughlin tried to deny what Rettinger claimed and begged Bruno to stay with him

Miranda, honey, we hope you have a prenup — and we really hope you don't have to use it!

As we mentioned above, Brendan McLoughlin grew up on Staten Island and became an NYPD officer. In November 2018, McLoughlin worked a gig at Good Morning America, which contracted some NYPD cops to provide security for the show, per ABC News. It just so happens that Miranda Lambert was scheduled to perform that morning with her band, the Pistol Annies, per Country Living.

Lambert did not take any notice of the handsome cop, but fate had other plans. As it turns out, McLoughlin might have been a little distracted from his work by the pretty country music star and that her bandmates might have noticed. "My husband was doing security there for the show. My girlfriends, the Annies, saw him and knew I might be ready to hang out with someone," Lambert told The New York Times. "They invited him to our show behind my back."

That seems like a conflict of interest, but McLoughlin and Lambert eventually settled the matter. McLoughlin left the force in 2019 and now splits his time between New York, where his son lives, and Nashville, where his wife's career is based.

If you know anything about Miranda Lambert, it's how much she loves animals. The country star is well-known for her dedication to animal welfare, as well as the sheer number of pets she's collected on her farm over the years. Besides being one of the top-earning women in country music, Lambert has somehow also found time to run a pet adoption agency, Mutt Nation, per Country Living.

That passion for animals is not something Brendan McLoughlin and Lambert shared when they met, however. Although he had worked with police dogs at the NYPD, McLoughlin had never owned so much as a goldfish when he met his future wife, per Country Fancast. He quickly realized he would not just be dating her, but also her menagerie of horses, dogs, and cats.

While there might have been a bit of an adjustment period for the city boy, McLoughlin took to farm life soon enough. By June 2020, McLoughlin had adopted his wife's love for homeless animals. Lambert shared a sweet story on her Instagram in which she detailed how, while driving down the highway, McLoughlin turned around to pick up a stray kitten on the side of the road because "he knew" she would "kill [him] if [he] saw it and didn't stop."

Happy wife, happy life!