Kaynette Williams is best known as Blake Shelton’s first wife and his high school sweetheart from Ada, Oklahoma. The two married in 2003 and divorced in 2006, and she has since kept a quiet life away from the spotlight, reportedly settling in Kansas with her new husband. Blake went on to marry Gwen Stefani in July 2021 at his Oklahoma ranch, but long before the fame, it was Kaynette who stood by him on the road.
Here we compiled 10 facts that you probably didn’t know about Kaynette Williams and her early years with country star and former The Voice coach Blake Shelton.
1. She was born on February 20, 1973.
Like many other non-celebrities who married celebrities, not much is known about the early life of Kaynette Williams. She was born as Kaynette Francis Gern on February 20, 1973 in Ada, Oklahoma. According to sources, Kaynette stands a good 5 foot 6 inches and is a Christian. Her father is a news presenter at a local television station while her mother is a private school teacher. Her family is regarded as relatively wealthy.
In an early 2019 net worth analysis, she is estimated to be worth over $600,000 earned in part through her many successes in different endeavors. But mostly, her net worth was from her divorce settlement with ex-husband Blake Shelton who was reportedly worth $60 million in 2019.
2. She graduated with two degrees.
While there’s not much information on Kaynette’s early life, there are several sources that talk about her early career. She was reportedly interested to pursue a career in television because of her father. But when she went to college, Kaynette graduated with two degrees, Finance and Human Science.
After that she was also into fashion design but decided against it as she had no time to actively pursue it. Instead, she did a lot of hosting works in the entertainment industry especially at the time that Blake Shelton was gaining ground as a country music artist.
3. She and Blake Shelton were high school sweethearts.
Kaynette and Blake first met in highschool. According to sources, Kaynette has always been into music as a child and tried to have a career in music which might have been the pair’s one of many commonalities.
Also, she was Blake Shelton’s road manager during the early years of his career. Shelton debuted in 2001 with his lead off single Austin from the album of the same name which spent five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. They were in love for so many years and dated a long time before they decided to finally get married in 2003.
4. Blake Shelton proposed to her during a hunting day in true country fashion style.
In a 2013 CMT interview with Shelton, he revealed how he popped the question to his then girlfriend Kaynette. It was an early morning in December wherein they ended up spending their day with some friends, partying and having a good time. He just got in from hunting that morning then he asked her to marry him and then they went back out to hunt again.
5. The couple married in a private ceremony.
The couple got married on November 17, 2003 in a private ceremony held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee wherein Shelton serenaded her with Conway Twitty’s Julia. In an interview with Country Weekly after their private wedding, Shelton confessed how he felt about his wife. He said that he knew Kaynette was the one and he can’t really explain it well. It was just something he felt.
6. She and Blake Shelton divorced in 2006.
But their marriage did not last long and after three years, the two called it quits. The divorce prompted her to go back from Tennessee to her hometown in Oklahoma according to an interview with The Enquirer.
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In 2011, Blake Shelton married fellow country music artist Miranda Lambert and the couple moved to Oklahoma. According to Kaynette, the couple’s move back to a neighboring town in Oklahoma made her feel like Oklahoma was not big enough for the three of them. So Kaynette moved to Kansas.
7. She reportedly accused Blake of “inappropriate marital conduct.”
While there were no official details regarding their divorce, she made a public statement of her claims of inappropriate marital conduct against her ex-husband Blake Shelton.
Aside from that, she also reportedly tried to sell her Demetrios wedding gown (size 6) she wore during their wedding ceremony through a friend’s eBay account. She made a starting bid of $700 but there were no bids after that.
8. Blake Shelton described their divorce to the same level of pain as his brother’s death.
In a 2014 interview with 60 Minutes, Blake confessed that it was the toughest thing that he had been through. He also compared the pain of the divorce to the death of his brother Richie who died in a tragic car accident in 1990. For Blake, the divorce was a tough call to make.
And in another interview back in 2013, Blake also said that looking back marrying his buddy was just the wrong thing all around.
9. She is now an award-winning elementary school teacher.
According to Country Fancast, Kaynette is now a math teacher at an elementary school in Kansas. She is also a women’s rights activist who has worked with several organizations which tackle the problems that women face in society.
She also enjoys her passion which is literature. And after her divorce with Blake Shelton, there were only little updates about her activities although there were rumors about her sexuality that came around. She denied all of these rumors.
10. She is now married to rodeo champion, Cody Joe Scheck.
After her divorce with Blake Shelton, Kaynette did not remarry until 2015. According to Kaynette’s mother Patricia, Kaynette and her now husband Cody Joe Scheck were introduced by a mutual friend. Cody is reportedly seven years younger than Kaynette Williams. He is a rodeo champion most popularly known for his world record on steer roping. The two are now enjoying a quiet life in Kansas, away from all the spotlight.
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