Miranda’s DIVORCE TELL-ALL

Nearly two years after Blake Shelton filed for divorce, Miranda Lambert is revealing her side of the heartbreak

Their final fight destroyed her. Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton were arguing mercilessly inside their Brentwood, Tenn., home as their marriage burned to ashes. “Blake seemed convinced of every bad cheating rumor he’d ever heard about Miranda. Cruel accusations flew — it was Miranda’s worst nightmare come true,” an insider tells In Touch exclusively. “She begged Blake to give their marriage another chance, but he wouldn’t have it.” The battle grew even uglier when Blake finally told her he’d be filing for divorce and that it would all be over in a matter of weeks. “It was all a formality for him. He wanted her out of their place in Oklahoma and out of his life immediately. Miranda felt like she’d been run over by a train. It was a side of Blake she’d never seen before, and one she’ll never get over for as long as she lives.”

Miranda has kept silent about that dark day — until now. Nearly two years after Blake, 40, filed divorce papers in July 2015, Miranda, 33, is sharing secrets about her side of the story following the painful and shocking end of their four-year marriage. “As she gets more distance on their failed marriage, Miranda’s becoming more and more bold about [expressing] her feelings on heartbreak and divorce,” says the insider. Miranda’s been journaling about the split since it happened, documenting

her feelings, lyrics and innermost thoughts in a diary-like notebook. “She has a great way with words, and it goes beyond her lyrics,” says the insider. “I wouldn’t at all be surprised if she writes a tell-all about her breakup with Blake.”

She’s already spilling her guts to friends. “She’s told them about how their marriage was great at first, but quickly became complicated,” says the insider. “It was like a series of the greatest dates in the world. She would get together with Blake for extended weekends of partying and fun, but that didn’t last.” Their demanding and divided music careers got in the way. “And Blake didn’t work at the marriage like she wanted to,” adds the insider. “She felt that their quality time together became more of an obligation for him as he became Hollywood’s resident cowboy-country singer on The Voice.” Miranda hated it. “She didn’t like Hollywood or his temporary home there and thought Blake got away from the sweet country boy she fell in love with. Ultimately, she felt she’d been left for a greater love: fame.”

He changed. “In her book, Miranda will talk about how Blake became surly and anxious when she just wanted to spend a weekend alone at their homes in Tishomingo [Okla.] or Nashville and seemed to lose that great sense of humor that people associate with him,” says the insider. “She felt she and Blake were as compatible as all get-out in the early days. They both loved riding horses, fishing, hunting and caring for their menagerie of animals.” They were on their way to having their own little fairy-tale town in Tishomingo with her boutique, bed-and-breakfast and other businesses. “But suddenly, their way of looking at the life shifted and it became Blake’s world. And there was no room for Miranda in it anymore.”

The more time they spent apart, the more they became strangers. “She lost trust in him, and he became suspicious of who she was with on the road,” says the

insider. “Miranda will also open up about when rumors spread that she’d cheated with music execs and country artists including singer Chris Young and Jamey Johnson. She’s told friends that the divorce was like an ambush, and that it seemed the world saw her as the bad guy in the split. In a matter of days, she was sent packing with all her animals. Then eventually her boutique and B&B closed. She didn’t know what hit her.”

Now Blake won’t know what hit him. “Miranda could really hurt him,” says the insider. Miranda was crushed when Blake started a headline-grabbing romance with his The Voice co-star Gwen Stefani, 47, just weeks after their divorce was finalized and was “mortified,” adds the insider, when he began parading the pop star around at award shows.

“Miranda won’t hold back on her feelings on Blake and Gwen, who she feels won’t last as a couple.”

Miranda’s already hinted at the pain and devastation their breakup caused her. She sang about it on her critically acclaimed, award-winning double album, The Weight of These Wings, which she released in November. “There’s no doubt her memoir would be a huge hit just like The Weight of These Wings,” says the insider, “because Miranda has the unique ability to get down to the heart of the matter.” Writing and recording in the wake of her humiliating public breakup has been cathartic for Miranda, a way to rebuild an inner strength that let her finally pick herself up, dust herself off and start to heal. “I want an emotional journey, because that’s what life is, and I want to document that,” Miranda has said. Telling her side of the story is something she needs to do to move on. “In a way, Miranda has gotten revenge on Blake by turning the heartbreak of the split into the most productive era of her career and her most accomplished album,” says the insider. “The memoir will be an extension of her lyrics.”

Miranda has learned a lot from her painful split. “There’s an upside. So much has happened since the divorce: She’s bought a new home outside of Nashville, relocated her boutique and small zoo of animals to her hometown in Texas, found love with musician Anderson East and released the best album of her life,” says the insider. “But there’s more healing to do — and that means finally telling her side of the story.” ◼