Brendan McLoughlin: The Officer Who Captured Miranda Lambert’s Heart

Guess everyone will agree that Miranda Lambert is one of the hottest female country music singers of our time. She never fails to deliver brutally honest and feisty lyrics which has helped drive her musical career to the level that it is at today.

Even though Lambert is known for singing songs that sometimes surprise her fans, nothing was more shocking when she announced she had married a police officer from New York in 2018 and she seems totally smitten with her new husband, Brendan McLoughlin. 

The two had a whirlwind romance yet Lambert has been happy as can be ever since. How are they making marriage work on the road and in the spotlight?

Meet Miranda Lambert’s Husband Brendan McLoughlin

Brendan McLoughlin, 29, was a native of Staten Island, New York.

Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin first met in New York in November 2018 when Lambert appeared with her Pistol Annies’ bandmates, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, on that day’s episode of Good Morning America.

The country supergroup was in the Big Apple to perform their 2018 single, “Got My Name Changed Back,” and to promote their third studio album, Interstate Gospel, which they also released on that same day.

The show was filmed in Times Square and during that time, Brendan McLoughlin was assigned at South Midtown Precinct, which included Times Square. McLoughlin, who’s been with the NYPD since 2013, has been known to work crowd control following concerts in the area. 

Later that night, Lambert performed with the Pistol Annies at a concert in N.Y.C.’s The Town Hall, which is located just one block away from where Good Morning America films. But what Lambert didn’t know was that her bandmates, Monroe and Presley, spotted Brendan McLoughlin working on security and they secretly invited McLoughlin to one of their shows behind her back.

“We did GMA, it was my first time to do morning TV in like five years because it’s morning television,” Lambert said on her 2019 interview with The View. 

“I’m a singer. I’m like, ‘It’s harsh.’ But I did, and the girls spotted him and invited him to our show. He’s beautiful. He’s a cutie. The girls kind of invited him, the girls and my security guy Tom, invited him behind my back to my show. I don’t really have game, so I was really nervous. It worked out.”

Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley are indeed the ultimate wing women because a few months after, the country star surprised her fans with her announcement that she tied the knot with Brendan McLoughlin in a secret wedding. The two walked the aisle on January 26, 2018, at a farm just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

“In honor of Valentine’s Day I wanted to share some news. I met the love of my life. And we got hitched!” Lambert wrote on her Instagram, along with two sweet photos from their happy day.

“My heart is full. Thank you Brendan Mcloughlin for loving me for…. me,” Lambert continued, adding a red heart emoji and a sweet hashtag “theone.” The newlyweds kept the news a secret for three weeks.

Just hours before sharing the happy news with the world, the couple has been spotted out in New York City’s SoHo district, smiling as they were walking and holding hands outside, with their wedding bands on full display.

“They looked happy and natural holding hands strolling sidewalk,” one eyewitness revealed to PEOPLE of the two. And Lambert, who was happily sporting her new ring, couldn’t have seemed happier: “She was beaming and protectively holding her ring finger,” the eyewitness added.

Overall, said the eyewitness, “They looked like a couple going on a date in the city.”

Lambert said her marriage with Brendan Mcloughlin has been “awesome,” partly because McLoughlin helped her embrace New York City.

“I’ve been [in New York City] several times over the past decade for work, but I never just came to New York to disappear in the city and have fun and be a part of it,” Lambert explained. “I’ve learned to embrace it. I think it crept into my art a little bit too, which is what I was hoping.”

The couple has been splitting their time between New York City and Nashville since Lambert resides in Nashville and McLoughlin works in New York.

“We have the best of both worlds,” Lambert shared about their blended lives. “We spend time in New York, we get to see our adorable nugget [McLoughin’s 8-month-old son from a previous relationship], then we get to come back to the farm and have the quiet life. I’m enjoying the balance.”

In November 2019, Lambert got candid with Health magazine and gamely shared about falling in love and dished on whether or not it was love at first sight with Brendan McLoughlin. “I guess so. If that’s a thing. I have eight dogs. Had love at first sight with them, too. Must be way easier than I thought,” she revealed.

On choosing to settle down with Brendan McLoughlin, she stated, “I feel like I’ve been through enough in my life to know what I don’t want. So when I know what I do want, I snatch it right up.”

“When I first met him, I realized I looked a little bit like a crazy dog lady,” the country singer told the outlet. “Which is fine with me, because that’s what I am.”

Still, the singer revealed it was a topic of discussion for the couple before their relationship really took off. “I was like, ‘Hey, if you don’t like dogs, that’s kind of a deal-breaker,” she continued.

The country singer is more than just a dog lover. Lambert runs the MuttNation Foundation, which helps place animals into homes. She brought the foundation to CMA Fest in 2019, which resulted in 61 dogs being adopted, according to reports.

Almost one year into marriage, it’s clear Brendan McLoughlin shares Lambert’s passion for canines.

“He actually loves them to death,” Lambert said. “He’s a great guy and, bless his heart, he didn’t have any dogs or any animals at all when he came into this relationship, so he inherited a whole barn full,” she said. “Marching with us today, he knows how important that is to me. He lives with a crazy dog lady.”

However, Lambert remained mum on most of the details of her big day, though she revealed that it was even more private than people thought. And just in case you were wondering whether her close friends and Pistol sisters, who were actually the ones who set her up with Brendan McLoughlin, served as bridesmaids – Lambert said straightforwardly: “I didn’t have nobody. That was mine and his moment.”

As for why the lovebirds decided to keep their happy day under wraps for a while, Lambert previously told PEOPLE that the decision was a no-brainer.

“I was married before, and it was a huge wedding and everything was very public. So was my divorce,” Lambert said of her previous marriage to Blake Shelton. “I learned then that it’s not for everybody else. This is my actual life. With Brendan, I made it a point to keep it as private as I could for as long as I could.”

The “It All Comes Out In The Wash “singer, has had her fair share of heartbreak, most remarkably her highly-publicized divorce from Blake Shelton. The Grammy winner previously made headlines for dating musician Evan Felker too, while he was still married and Lambert was in a relationship with Anderson East. She confirmed her split from Felker in August 2018, telling The Tennessean that she was “happily single” at the time.

Luckily, she is now with a man who’s her protector and can be with her every day! Indeed, the country star fell fast and hard for Brendan McLoughlin. In January, the two celebrated their first anniversary and Lambert took to Instagram to wish McLoughlin a happy anniversary with a sentimental message 

The picture showed the duo on their wedding day, walking hand-in-hand with wide smiles and captioned, “1 year. I’m so happy to walk through this life with you,” she wrote in the caption. “Thank you, Brendan, for making me the proudest wife and stepmom. You are the reason for all my new smile lines. I love you.”

Those around Lambert have also noticed that she seems a bit lighter and the walls she once had up following her first marriage are beginning to break down. “Miranda seems like she’s in a really happy place right now,” a source tells Fox News. “She is lighter and just not as standoffish as she used to be.”

Well, guess it’s safe to say that Brendan McLoughlin had ignited a newfound level of joy in Lambert’s life.

“It’s really good to be genuinely happy,” she said. “You almost don’t realize that you’re not until you get there and you’re like, ‘Man, I didn’t know that there was a level of comfort and happiness out there that existed like that.’”

Brendan McLoughlin Past Isn’t Really Squeaky Clean 

Since they first announced their marriage, Lambert and McLoughlin have been overwhelmed by breakup rumors. However, neither the songstress nor McLoughlin have let the rumors affect them. The couple’s representative quickly clapped back and told E! News, “[It’s] completely made up. Not one iota is true. They are happy and together!”

Most of the rumors seem to stem from the duos’ quick marriage and McLoughlin’s not so sparkling clean past. It turns out Miranda Lambert’s husband has a complicated past too. McLoughlin dating history has attracted a lot of attention since Lambert broke the news of their wedding.

It came out that the New York City police officer McLoughlin had been engaged to former professional soccer player Jackie Bruno but got another woman pregnant while cheating on his fiancée.

Carol Bruno, Jackie’s mother told Us Weekly that Rettinger called her daughter to tell her that she was pregnant with McLoughlin’s child. She said that Rettinger reached out after Jackie had returned home from playing in Sweden, and said she was 7 months pregnant.

“[Brendan] tried to deny it and then begged her to stay with him,” she told Us Weekly at the time. “She was only going [abroad] for a few months to play [soccer], he was begging her to marry him before she left, even though he knew the girl was pregnant.”

Kaihla Rettinger, a New York City attorney, is the mother of Brendan McLoughlin’s baby son. She gave birth just three days after the NYPD officer met the country star. But Lambert and McLoughlin aren’t letting any drama ruin their newlywed phase. Lambert is embracing her new role as a stepmom.

“My stepson is amazing,” Lambert said. “I’m loving that whole phase, and I’ve raised a million dogs, so I feel like I’ve got that part of my womanly/motherly thing is full, so this is a whole new journey. It’s great.”

This only goes to show that the pair will never be able to fly under the radar. They got to be fine being in the spotlight, even if that’s not their favorite place to be. “I’m literally so normal,” Lambert explained. “Sometimes I’m like, ‘Why are y’all so interested?’ I’m thankful, but I’m never going to get used to the public eye in that way.”

As for her husband, “To pull him into that world, I was like, ‘I’m sorry, this might be a shock,’” she said of how she reassured Brendan McLoughlin, whose personal life made news as well. “He just takes it like a champ. He’s better at it than I am.”

In April 2019, the duo stepped out and made their public debut at the 2019 Academy of Country Music Awards. The “Bluebird” singer, was seen wearing a neon-green halter dress, and her NYPD officer hubby, who looked dashing in a streamlined black suit. The two held tight to each other and sported matching smiles as they posed for the cameras on one of country music’s biggest nights.

The pair stepped out for date night ahead at Billboard’s Country Power Players event at the Stateside Kitchen in Nashville on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, to celebrate 100 leaders in the industry, as well as the past year’s billion-dollar earnings in sales, streaming and touring.

Brendan McLoughlin came with Lambert as her plus one to show support for her longtime manager, Marion Kraft, who was one of the many that were honored. The two are set to hit the red carpet again on Wednesday, June 5 at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville. Lambert has been nominated for Best Female Video of The Year for her single, “Keeper of the Flame,” and Best Collaborative Video Of The Year for her song with Jason Aldean, “Drowns The Whiskey.”

And just two days after, Brendan McLoughlin also showed his support to Lambert at her MuttNation Foundation’s 2019 Mutt March. More than 1,000 people and their pooches joined the couple.

Brendan McLoughlin on His New Job

In 2019, Brendan McLoughlin has taken a leave of absence from the New York Police Department and this was confirmed by PEOPLE. A representative from the NYPD’s Office of the Deputy Commissioner Public Information told PEOPLE that “Police Officer Brendan McLoughlin is on an authorized leave of absence.”

“The Department has rules and procedures governing leaves of absence by members of the service and complies with applicable law,” the representative added on McLoughlin’s time away from his job.

His leave of absence comes just two months before Lambert is expected to kick off her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour in September.

But in February 2020, Fox News reported Miranda Lambert’s husband has officially retired from the New York Police Department. A media spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed McLoughlin’s departure. “His current duty status is retired,” Sergeant Jessica McRorie, an NYPD DCPI spokesperson, told Fox News.

Brendan McLoughlin has been seen along with the country singer while she continues her “Wildcard” tour. But according to multiple sources, McLoughlin is more than just a fan cheering for Lambert. Instead, the former officer is now working as a member of Lambert’s security team.

Fox News said that multiple concertgoers have witnessed that Brendan McLoughlin has been busy working security at the singer’s meet and greets at various venues, monitoring lines of fans and checking their bags.

“Brendan was the security guard right before you go in to meet Miranda for her meet and greet,” one concertgoer told Fox News. “Other members of the security team told fans, ‘No photos with Brendan.'”

“Brendan wears a lanyard representing he’s on Miranda’s team and he even wears a little earpiece,” another concertgoer said.

Well, it sounds like Lambert and McLoughlin, are enjoying their time together. A fresh start for the couple as they cherish the time they can now spend together following his retirement.

“[Miranda] and [Brendan] are in bliss right now and have been for a while,” an insider close to the dynamic duo told Us Weekly. “Brendan has been living with Miranda for several months now, so his retiring is more of a formality.”

 “They both love that he doesn’t have to go back to New York for his career,” said the source.

“My truth is a lot happier,” Lambert told AZ Central. “And I’m hoping that’s also encouraging people that have gone through something hard or are going through something hard and painful. Like, look, I’m smiling again. You will live. It actually all do come out in the wash.”

Well, these two are definitely loving each other’s company.