Miranda Lambert announced her wedding 4 days ago and it has already given us an abundance of good gossip.
If we go back to the rollout (which was only on Saturday!), PEOPLE had the jump on an exclusive wedding photo, along with the first pap shots from the weekend. PEOPLE posted those pictures a day before TMZ or Daily Mail (two outlets with huge photo budgets) secured them. Almost like there was an exclusivity deal, right? (More on those pictures below.)
Miranda and her team had to come out strong or they’d be playing defence to stories about his new dad status - instead of defending it, they have publications like PEOPLE and E! making it part of the “hot cop” narrative. And yes, there is confirmation they met November 2 (just like Busy Philipps told us) at GMA - PEOPLE has those details here. (How does that conversation go when you are newly dating? “Sorry I can’t make it to dinner on Tuesday night, my ex is due and I need to be at the hospital.”)
But while the Miranda-approved story was playing out, there were also some deep dives happening on social media. Many of you emailed and messaged me on Twitter about the the rumour that the pregnancy was a result of Miranda’s new husband, Brendan, cheating on his ex-fiancée (her name is Jackie Bruno).
PEOPLE may have the sanctioned story, but it’s US Weekly coming through with the tea in an interview with Jackie’s mom, Carol, who shared a lot of details. According to Carol, Brendan cheated on Jackie after she left to play professional soccer in Europe and she found out after she was contacted by the pregnant woman Kaihla Rettinger (her name has been widely reported). He was regretful and tried to win back Jackie, despite the fact that he was expecting a baby with Kaihla. The baby is only three months old so we know that this all happened within the last year.
As many of you pointed out, Kaihla might be inclined to keep quiet because her relationship with Brendan didn’t exactly have the most drama-free start – maybe she wants to keep those details to herself. But by marrying Miranda Lambert, Brendan has brought a lot of scrutiny onto her life.
Miranda’s strategy so far is to position this as a “love of my life” romance (that’s why she tied it into Valentine’s Day) and that’s why PEOPLE, the most family- and celebrity-friendly outlet, has come through with some glowing stories already. In the first set of pap shots, they were wearing matching leather jackets and a source said, “She was beaming and protectively holding her ring finger.” Was she being protective or performative? They also put up a story that she may have connected with Brendan because her dad was a police officer and her mom was a detective. Okkkkkkkkkk. Is Brendan the first cop she has come across in her life? Are women regularly falling for men who have the same profession as their father? It’s a reach, even for PEOPLE.
This story seems like they are grasping for approval. And I wonder if it’s because, when planning this roll out, Miranda’s team didn’t account for the social media sleuths and rogue not-quite-relatives. Because now this story can’t be contained – there’s simply too much information out there (like a photo of him with the baby in the hospital) and even though his past life has nothing to do with Miranda, she is the one who has to answer for it because she is famous. This swirl of bad press can do two things: strengthen their “us against the world” bond, or put a lot of stress on her and her team, which in turn can put stress on a new marriage.
For those of us who follow Miranda, this whole situation seems like something she’s been building to – with her marriage to Blake, then her breakup with Anderson East, then her fling with Evan Felker, there’s always drama and high stakes. Miranda is someone who accepts her own messes and I can certainly see her accepting someone else’s messiness – but to a point. Remember, she was all in with Evan Felker until he “broke her rules” and was kicked off her tour. Prior to the split, she was blowing up his ex-wife’s phone (and she was more than happy to produce receipts).
In the summer of 2018, when all of the quick engagements and marriages were happening, Lainey would say “fast flames flame out fast.” And that was true for some of them. This is a fast flame but Miranda isn’t exactly the flame out type. More like kerosene.