Miranda Flaunts Her New Man in Front of Blake

Miranda Lambert has a message for her ex — and she’s hotter than ever

She wore a plunging yellow gown and strapped a tiny gold pistol to her hot-pink heels. But Miranda Lambert’s best accessory on the red carpet at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on April 3 was boyfriend Anderson East, the up-and-coming musician she’s been dating since December. “Miranda thought the ACMS would be the perfect place to make her official red carpet debut with Anderson,” says an insider, “and show off her new life and new love to the world.”

And to her ex-husband, Blake Shelton. After leading Anderson, 27, inside by the hand, Miranda, 32, changed into a sexy black jumpsuit and settled into their front-row seats, her hand possessively ( provocatively?) tucked against the younger man’s inner thigh. Blake, 39, appeared in the show’s opening number, then performed his newest hit, “Came Here to Forget” — a song about getting over (and back at) an ex with a new love. It’s easy to draw the parallels: Blake — who’s called the track “a direct look into my life” — divorced Miranda out of the blue eight months ago and moved on just weeks later with Gwen Stefani, 46. “The whole thing was eerily uncomfortable,” says a witness. But Miranda kept her cool. “Boy, was she ready,” says the insider. “Instead of being mortified, she sat there beaming and showing major PDA with her beau. She flaunted him the whole night.”

Miranda got her message across. “There is no question that for her, this is the equivalent of a comeback song,” Beverly Hills–based psychologist Julie Armstrong, who does not treat the singer, tells In Touch. “She wants everyone to know she’s back, she’s confident, she has a new boyfriend — and she’s unfazed by last year.”

The tables have turned since the last big country music event. Right before the Country Music Association Awards kicked off in Nashville, Tenn., last November, Blake and Gwen both had their reps make the unusual move of publicly confirming their romance. Then, after the telecast — during which Miranda had to look at her ex in the front row as she collected her award onstage — Blake and Gwen made their first public appearance as a couple at his record label’s afterparty. “This time,” says the insider, “Miranda ruled the night.” That includes her seventh straight victory for Female Vocalist of the Year.

Blake was low-key offstage. “He didn’t even walk the red carpet,” says the witness. His new love was MIA, too. “Blake really wanted Gwen to go with him, but it was her day to get her kids back from [ her ex] Gavin [Rossdale] after a week without them, and her boys will always come first,” says a Gwen source.

Miranda wasn’t concerned about Blake or Gwen . “She’s truly in love with Anderson,” says the insider. “She’s moved on.” ◼