It was reported earlier this month that Miranda Lambert and Anderson East were broken up after two years of dating. This week it turns out that she’s hooking up with Evan Felker. She’s been touring with Evan and his band Turnpike Troubadours. The thing is… when they started touring, Evan was married. Is still married? His wife, Staci Nelson, filed for divorce in February. And they’ve only been married for a year and a half. Coincidence or conspiracy? The timeline is definitely shady. 

Now Blake Shelton is jumping in on it: 

Um, take it easy there, Blake. Nobody asked you. Because Blake too was married, to Kaynette Williams, when he and Miranda first starting hanging out. So whatever karma he’s talking about, you could say, came for him too because he and Miranda broke up when, allegedly, rumour has it, he found out that she was cheating on him. 

To bring it back to Miranda then, she’s now being called a homewrecker. Well, not just now. She’s been called one before. For a long time in Nashville there were also rumours that she was rolling up on Eric Church before she and Blake ended up together, and Eric was married at the time too. Here’s the thing that’s interesting to me about Miranda… 

Her, um, romance style may not be my romance style. But her romance style hasn’t hurt her. There is an infidelity double standard where women and men are concerned. You don’t think the Rolling Stones broke up marriages? Many, many marriages? Or any other male rock stars? And yet the “homewrecker” label never followed Mick Jagger around. Women are punished much more heavily for cheating than men are. But here’s Miranda Lambert whose career really hasn’t been hurt by it. Which… I don’t think I can be mad at? Like, fine, be mad at her for going for unavailable men but when so many other men have done the same and continued to be super successful, should success be denied to Miranda Lambert? Serious question. 

Is it the way Miranda Lambert has managed her image? She’s never been the “good girl”. She is, sometimes, actively the bad girl. She’s the villain in a Disney story. Which, in this case, may be her particular privilege. Because there are other female artists who would be denied success for the same. Carrie Underwood, for example, is the princess in a Disney story. And I don’t know that Carrie Underwood, if she was making headlines for similar stories, would find herself in the same position. Even Kristen Stewart, who’s not exactly a sweetheart, was excoriated for cheating on Robert Pattinson – because up to that point, her fans had projected onto her the loyalty and eternal commitment of Bella Swan. Miranda Lambert though? As far as I can see, there’s no witch-hunt coming for Miranda Lambert. Which makes Miranda Lambert an outlier. Do we need to talk about this on Show Your Work? 

Here's Miranda at the CMAs earlier this month.