LeAnn Rimes says she felt like a ‘target’ as a result of her affair with husband Eddie Cibrian, whom she met on a movie set while they were both married to other people.
The singer, 42, shot to fame as a country music star and cemented her career with a cameo in Coyote Ugly, before falling in love with married father-of-two Cibrian.
In a new interview, Rimes says she was “projected upon” by women who had been hurt by cheating after the pair decided to leave their respective marriages to be together.
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The two have now been happily married for 14 years, but Rimes says it took her years to overcome the backlash and now feels she no longer needs to carry “the world’s pain”.
Rimes and Cibrian, who is nine years her senior, fell in love on the set of the 2009 TV film Northern Lights, which was filmed on location in Alberta, Canada.
At the time, Rimes had been married since 2002 to Dean Sheremet, a back up dancer, while Cibrian was married to former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, with whom he shared two sons.
Their marriage had already survived Cibrian’s affair with reality TV star Scheana Shay.
It was during a set visit that Glanville first suspected her husband and Rimes were having an affair, and reportedly told Sheremet as much, although Cibrian at first publicly denied reports that soon surfaced.
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By mid-2009, the two had left their respective spouses to be together – a move that caused shockwaves around the world and a huge public backlash.
Now, in a new interview with Flow Space, Rimes, who is starring in a new TV series 9-1-1: Nashville, has again touched on the fallout that followed.
Rimes, whose fame skyrocketed thanks to a cameo in Coyote Ugly, and the hit songs she wrote and performed for it, including Can’t Fight the Moonlight, went from being America’s sweetheart to one of the most hated women in the world.
Reflecting on “all of the craziness we went through”, Rimes said people had strong reactions to their affair.
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“I realised very quickly that there are a lot of women who’ve been hurt,” she said.
“Like, I’ve been on both sides of that coin – I’ve been cheated on, too, so I know that feeling. But so many women don’t know what to do with that anger… I was a target that was just easily projected upon.
“And once I realised that, things got a lot easier.
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“Instead of taking it so personally, it’s like, look: This is not all my pain to carry. I know what I’m responsible for in the situation and making amends for that.
“But you know, the world’s pain is not mine to carry, and I think that really got thrown at me for a long time.”
The couple has now been married 14 years and not only overcame the public’s perception of them but even Glanville’s, who used to publicly shame the pair in interviews and even on the Real Housewives.
Glanville now spends holidays together with the couple and her two sons with Cibrian, Mason, 22, and Jake, 18.
Rimes shares a close relationship with the two boys. She and Cibrian do not have any children together.
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