These days Brandi Glanville and LeAnn Cibrian have finally buried the hatchet and become friends. Heck, Brandi even recently said the two are like “sister wives” the way they’re working together to raise the kids.
But things weren’t always so idyllic. A feud raged for a decade after LeAnn was revealed as the other woman to Brandi’s husband Eddie Cibrian, one we thought would never cool off. But time heals all wounds, and eventually even the Real Housewives alum was able to let her righteous anger fade.
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In a new op-ed for The Sun, the 48-year-old is looking back on the worst parts of it, the cheating scandal, the divorce, the disbelief at LeAnn becoming a parent to her children. It’s a wild ride.
The way Brandi describes the relationship before the, well, let’s say fiery explosion, you can understand immediately why she was so angry for so long. She recalls:
“Eddie and I were together for 13 years and married for eight. We always promised each other that we would never get a divorce and that we’d love each other when we were old.”
But things didn’t play out that way…
The Cheating
Brandi wrote:
“Eddie and I got along great and had the best sex life. I was madly in love and felt like I had the perfect life. But like Martha Hancock, I discovered my husband was cheating when he was caught on camera kissing the new woman in his life.”
(Martha Hancock is the wife of Matt Hancock, a UK politician who was just caught on camera making out with an aide.)
Brandi remembers there were “warning signs,” like she’d be unable to reach him and “he’d claim his phone had died” over and over.
“He’d say I was jealous and that he loved me. Then I’d think it was my fault, that I really was being crazy. But in my gut I knew I was probably right.”
She recalls seeing the chemistry between Eddie and LeAnn firsthand as she watched them film a Lifetime romance movie called Northern Lights:
“I visited the set — and it was not a fun visit. I could tell they were attracted to each other, though her husband was right there and I was right there too.”
Then the s**t hit the fan when the co-stars were busted by paparazzi:
“Then one day, I ran to the grocery store and pictures of Eddie and LeAnn making out in a restaurant were plastered across magazine Us Weekly. I went online on my phone — and it was everywhere. There was video footage of them kissing over the table. It was devastating. I went straight home, passed out in my closet, cried and cried.”
Ugh, we cannot even imagine.
Northern Gaslighting?
Something we never knew? Brandi reveals:
“Eddie knew about the story coming out in Us Weekly but he didn’t tell me.”
Oof. Not only that, Brandi says — against all odds — Eddie tried to convince her she wasn’t seeing photos and video of him cheating!
“He tried to convince me it wasn’t real but I knew it was over. They were sucking on each other’s fingers in the footage yet he was telling me nothing was happening. It was insane.”
That IS insane! Finally she got him to the point of admitting it, but he still wasn’t being honest about what the relationship with the country singer was:
“I asked him if he loved LeAnn. He said he didn’t — he wanted to be with me for ever and for us to go for counseling.”
Things only got more twisted. As Brandi recalls:
“Weeks later, I turned on the TV and there was this woman being interviewed on Access Hollywood saying Eddie had cheated on HER with LeAnn.”
She’s describing Scheana Shay — who later became famous for being on Vanderpump Rules.
“So he had been cheating on me with a second woman. Then I went crazy. I was f**king done. Eddie told me he had stopped seeing LeAnn but I knew he was lying.”
Her fears were soon confirmed:
“All the magazines started calling me, telling me he had been seen on a motorcycle with her. He had still been seeing her behind my back for the few months we’d been in counseling together.”
No wonder she was so pissed!
Seeing Red
Brandi was devastated, but above all she was ANGRY. She says:
“I was broken. If I didn’t have to take care of my kids, I probably wouldn’t be here now. It was so public. Everyone felt sorry for me and wanted to hug me. But I wanted to punch everyone in the face.”
The worst part of a celebrity breakup is it’s impossible to put them out of your mind — they’re all over!
“I couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing something about them. LeAnn had taken over my life and I didn’t have a voice any more.”
The real issue was that in addition to taking her hubby, it felt like LeAnn was now taking her sons, Mason and Jake. She remembers:
“I did not want my kids around her. She’d got my husband and she was NOT getting my children.”
Things escalated until Brandi got, well, pretty f**king scary!
“One time, before they were married, I walked up to a soccer game and Jake, who was two, was sitting in her lap. I had this rage in my body. I really wanted to kill her. I walked over to her, grabbed Jake and I looked at her and said: ‘I will f***ing murder you.'”
Wow.
Brandi admits she was drinking a lot at the time to help get through it, but it didn’t stop her from feeling angry — or trying to fight back:
“One time I even recorded him saying how he loved me and that he didn’t love LeAnn — and I sent it to her. I wanted her to know what he was saying. I was out for revenge.”
It sounds fair, but revenge never really helps us grow, does it? While Brandi didn’t learn the hardest way — she didn’t actually physically harm her nemesis — she did learn:
“But all the energy I was putting into revenge was eating away at me. I couldn’t move on.”
Forgiveness
It was a hard road, but like we said, both of Eddie’s wives, past and current, are getting along swimmingly now. Brandi writes:
“These days, I love LeAnn, who married Eddie in 2011. She’s great and we all hang out together. I’ve forgiven her. We’re going to be around each other for ever because of the kids, so why not make the best of it?”
Not only do the three work as a unit — the reality star and the country crooner are usually the winning team when it comes to disagreements!
“Eddie and I still squabble, but it’s like the three of us are doing the parenting — it’s nice to have a third person and she’s usually on my side.”
Imagine that! After everything they went through, everything Brandi was put through, she’s been able to make true peace with Eddie and LeAnn.
Hey, you know what? If there’s hope for them, there’s hope for all of us, right?
You can read the full essay, including Brandi’s opinion on the Hancock scandal and an update on her newest feud with alleged hookup buddy Denise Richards HERE.
[Image via Nicky Nelson/Judy Eddy/WENN.]
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