GARTH DITCHES TRISHA!

Garth Brooks raises eyebrows for skipping wife Trisha Yearwood’s big moment at the CMT Awards

She dubbed it a “girls night” on Instagram. Trisha Yearwood arrived at the CMT Awards in Austin, Texas, on April 7 with her sister, Beth Bernard. Her husband of 18 years, Garth Brooks, “is not here with me tonight because he’s probably at the bar,” she said with a laugh on the red carpet, referring to his new Nashville honky-tonk, Friends in Low Places. Later, as her sister watched in tears from the audience, Trisha accepted the June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award. “June Carter Cash was a force, and she was also married to a force. I know a little bit about a life like that,” Trisha said. “I know it wasn’t always easy, but she found ways to keep shining her own light. And she had no bigger fan than her husband, Johnny Cash. I also know a little bit about that.”

That’s one reason why Garth’s absence during such a big night was so glaring. “A lot of people were speculating that something is wrong between them,” a source says of the pair, who once vowed never to spend more than five days apart. “It’s so unlike Garth to ditch her like that!”

HE CAN BE CLINGY Normally, he’s her biggest fan. “I just feel lucky to be with her,” Garth — who calls his wife “the queen” and sometimes even “Mrs. Yearwood” at home — gushed at the opening of his bar on March 7. And the 62-year-old has previously confessed that he feels “dependent” on her and