Miranda & Gwen: DUMPED

from her Miranda Lambert reels East, while breakup with Anderson Gwen Stefani is humiliated her after Blake Shelton leaves

With songs like “Over You” and “White Liar” in her repertoire, Miranda Lambert has an entire catalog of songs about love gone wrong. “I like to write sad songs,” she told the crowd on the March 1 stop of her Livin’ Like Hippies tour in Knoxville, Tenn., before breaking into yet another tearjerker, “Tin Man.” “If you ever felt one breakin’,” she sang, “you’d never want a heart.”

What the two-time Grammy winner, 34, didn’t share was that her heart had just been broken again, this time by boyfriend Anderson East, 29, whom she began dating in September 2015 after Blake Shelton blindsided her by filing for divorce after four years of marriage. “She didn’t see it coming” this time, either, an insider tells In Touch. “She thought she’d found a man

she was totally in sync with physically and emotionally after her nightmare split with Blake. But it just wasn’t working out, and he dumped her. He walked out without even saying goodbye.” She’s not alone in her heartache — or humiliation. Miranda’s ex-husband, country star Blake, 41, is also single again after calling it quits with his girlfriend of more than two years, Gwen Stefani, 48 — the very woman he sought solace with in the wake of his divorce from Miranda. He cares deeply for her, an insider tells In Touch, but grew tired of dealing with their many problems — and left her before he headed out on the road for his tour on Feb. 15. “Gwen doesn’t know what hit her,” says the source. “She’s heartbroken.”

MIRANDA’S LOSS

For her part, Miranda thought everything was fine between her and Anderson. “Up until early February, they made it a point to spend quality time with each other every few weeks, and

to call, text or Facetime every day,” the insider says of the two, who were introduced by friends at one of his concerts. “But Anderson felt they sort of checked out of the relationship at the same time.”

One issue: Miranda’s cocky demeanor while out on tour. A Feb. 7 Instagram post features her in a leather jacket with her back to the mirror in a bar with the words ‘I Do This Thing Called Whatever I Want’ in big red letters scrawled above her head. “It indicated this ‘I don’t-need-anybody-else’ persona, and it really troubled Anderson,” says the insider. “He felt, if she’s fine with her career and being off on her own, then so am I.”

So that month, he told her so. According to the insider, “He said they should take a long break from each other.” Miranda was devastated. “It took her the better part of two years to move on from the heart- break of her divorce from Blake, especially after she was accused of cheating. Now her heart has been broken again. The romance had developed so naturally and she was always faithful. She really felt they were meant to be together.”

But her feelings of sadness are mixed with anger. Anderson was relatively unknown when news of the romance broke in 2015. Since then, he’s been featured in magazines from Billboard to Instyle and performed on such national stages as the Today show. “His relation-

ship with her took him from being a relative newcomer to the top of the musical A-list,” says the insider. “Miranda feels he was using her to his advantage in that way. Miranda believes she paved the way for him to be the next big star, and she’s resentful about it.”

In keeping with her spitfire personality, however, she’s not sitting around and wallowing. “Miranda refuses to feel sorry for herself,” says the insider. “She’s been writing songs for her follow-up to her emotional and raw double album, The Weight of These Wings.”

She’s also doing some soulsearching and questioning her future. “She’s not sure if she’ll ever find love now that she’s been spurned by the two biggest loves of her life in less than three years,” says another Miranda source. But she’s trying not to dwell on it, continues the source: “Her allegiance

‘‘ Blake reached the breaking point with their struggle to have a baby” — AN INSIDER

is to her songs, the road and her fans right now.”

GWEN’S PAIN

Gwen isn’t accepting her new reality as easily as Miranda. Even though Blake broke up with the “Make Me Like You” singer in February, she’s still posting about him on Instagram. “She continues to send him loving social media support from LA while he’s been out on the road,” says a Gwen source. “But Blake has drastically slowed regular communication with her.”

Blake and Gwen had talked marriage regularly during their two years together, but he had been looking for the exit for a while. During the relationship, which started when both were coaches on The Voice, they weathered many storms and stresses, including their unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant; Gwen’s jealousy over other women including Chloe Kohanski, the pretty 24-yearold blonde who Blake coached to victory on the NBC show in 2017; and Gwen’s tumultuous relationship with her ex-husband, Gavin Rossdale (see box at right), with whom she shares sons Kingston, 11, Zuma, 9, and Apollo, 4. Says the source, “Blake’s through with Gwen’s neediness and all the drama: her demanding, critical ex-husband and her jealousy of him and other women.”

It was her jealousy that sparked the couple’s explosive final fight following his gig in St. Louis on Feb. 24. “Blake told Gwen that he was going to be doing the latter part of the monthlong Country Freaks Tour without her,” says the source. “Gwen was so used to accompanying him on tour, she was upended. After their nastiest argument ever, Blake took off without even saying goodbye. It was a real breaking point in the relationship.”

But Blake wasn’t the only one who was unhappy. The source says the No Doubt frontwoman was “really freaked out” by his close relationship with Voice winner Chloe. “Gwen really felt he developed a crush on Chloe throughout the season and that the two had tremendous chemistry,” says the source. “Blake tried to reassure by saying that nothing was going on and that he loved her, but it really unsettled her.”

Gwen — also insecure about their seven-year age difference — unloaded on him during an argument. “She told him she didn’t want to spend her life in fear of her famous partner cheating on her,” says the source, noting that Gwen ended her marriage to Gavin amid his nanny cheating scandal. “She went on to tell him about other insecurities — how she couldn’t handle another heartbreaking di- vorce because of trust issues, and how she felt a marriage at this time would hurt and confuse the boys, who are still incredibly close with Gavin.” What’s more, she told him she couldn’t relocate to Blake’s native Oklahoma, where he keeps a sprawling ranch, according to the source.

All of the fights and disagreements ultimately made the “God Gave Me You” singer rethink the relationship. “Blake just couldn’t tolerate all the drama any longer,” says the source. “He’s just a simple country guy who wants his family and his woman by his side. And that woman isn’t Gwen.” ◼