Brandi Glanville Leaves Eddie Cibrian Over LeAnn Rimes

Brandi Glanville says Rimes and Cibrian "deserve each other."

ByABC News
March 19, 2009, 4:19 PM

July 22, 2009 — -- Actor Eddie Cibrian's wife, Brandi Glanville, has left him over his reported affair with country singer LeAnn Rimes.

A month after calling Rimes a "stalker" for continuing to pursue her husband, Glanville told US Weekly in its latest issue, "Eddie and LeAnn deserve each other."

"Eddie and I have decided to take some time apart," Glanville, 36, the mother of two young boys, said. "I want to do what is best for our children.

According to US, the final straw for Glanville came after Cibrian, 36, and Rimes, 26, co-stars of a steamy Lifetime movie, were seen togther again July 17, four months after the magzine first reported that they were having an affair.

Cibrian's wife stayed mum until last month, when she broke her silence and accused Rimes of stalking her husband.

"LeAnn is a stalker," Glanville told US at the time. "She refuses to leave us alone -- it is shameful and scary. People are going to say it takes two to tango, and I get that but, at some point LeAnn needs to stop asking him to dance."

Glanville claimed that Rimes, who is married to aspiring songwriter Dean Sheremet, showed up at an L.A. Lakers game Cibrian attended May 17, weeks after he'd changed his phone number to end Rimes' "constant texting and calling."

Rimes' motive, according to Glanville? Publicity.

"LeAnn is so desperate for fame she has left her self-respect in the gutter and doesn't care who she hurts to get what she wants," the model and mother of Mason, 6, and Jake, 2, told US. "She's hurting my family and messing with the wrong mom."

Rimes' representative didn't immediately return requests for comment. Her last major public appearance was at the MTV Movie Awards in June, where she performed.

The country music prodigy's personal life gained attention in March when US reported that she was having an affair with Cibrian, her co-star in the Lifetime movie "Northern Lights," which premiered later that month.

The magazine devoted a cover story to Rimes' reported infidelities, citing security camera images of Rimes and Cibrian kissing during an intimate dinner and photographs of them arriving at and leaving an exclusive Beverly Hills hotel, where they apparently had a four-hour rendezvous.

"She is having an affair," senior editor Ian Drew told ABCNews.com at the time. "It's not even a joke or speculation or from a shady source."

But why put Rimes, whose biggest hit, "How Do I Live," was back in 1997, and who has been overshadowed by country-music princesses Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, on the cover?

"Everyone thought she had this perfect marriage, she always had such a perfect reputation," Drew said. "It's just a surprise to everyone."

After the story of their reputed affair broke, Cibrian released the following statement to reporters:

"Other than being friends and two actors who were romantically intertwined in a movie-for-television we filmed last fall, there is no truth to the reporting initiated by Us magazine. It is a fabricated story that is using random snapshots as connective tissue to create a scandalous relationship."

Eddie Cibrian with wife Brandi Glanville.

Rimes and Cibrian, who has appeared in episodes of "Samantha Who?" and "Ugly Betty," first met on the set of their television drama "Northern Lights," in which she starred as an Alaskan bush pilot who fell for the new detective in town, played by Cibrian. Through the shoot, which included some steamy love scenes, they became close.

The director Mike Robe told Us: "From the moment we rehearsed, LeAnn and Eddie honestly developed a really strong bond and a warm relationship. I could sense a lot of trust that grew between them. Once I yelled 'cut,' they did have a rapport. They became very good friends."

Various media reports say Rimes' marriage has been in trouble for some time, a product of getting married too young. Rimes wed former backup dancer Sheremet when she was 19.

A friend of the couple told People magazine: "Like any marriage, they've had a couple of rough patches. They've gone to therapy. But they did marry very young and when people marry young it's very difficult to maintain a marriage for the long haul."