Jana Kramer has opened up about her feelings of “embarrassment” over her upcoming wedding after being married three times before.
The actor, 40, spoke candidly about getting married to fiancé Allan Russell – who she shares a six-month-old baby, Roman, with – during a recent episode of her podcast, Whine Down with Jana Kramer. Before her relationship with Russell, she was in three previous marriages. She split from NFL tight end Mike Caussin, who she shares seven-year-old daughter, Jolie, and four-year-old son, Jace, with, in 2021.
Back in 2010, she tied the knot with actor Johnathon Schaech, before calling off the marriage one month later and finalizing their divorce in 2011. Before Schaech, she married Michael Gambino in 2004, when she was only 19. They divorced months later after Kramer suffered severe domestic abuse in their relationship, which led to Gambino being convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to six years in prison. He later died in 2012.
During the latest episode of her podcast, Kramer confessed that she’s expecting people to make remarks about her previous relationships once she marries Russell.
“The comments of the people that are going to come in and go: ‘You know this is your fourth time,’” she said. “I’m like: ‘You have no idea…’ But like: ‘So what, I’m getting married these many times.’”
The One Tree Hill alum went on to respond and address the questions that people have about her marriages, acknowledging that she didn’t plan for them to end when they did.
“I don’t even know if it’s so much the hate, but I think it’s the failure, and this is actually gonna get me like emotional,” she said. “But it’s like, do you think I wanted to be married that many times? Truly… it’s embarrassing.”
After reflecting on how her marriages to Schaech and Gambino didn’t work, she acknowledged that she only wanted to be married once after that, referring to Caussin, who she’s publicly accused of cheating on her.
“I always say, I’ve been married once, which was with Mike, and do people honestly think that I wanted to not be in that marriage?” she said. “Like I did not want my husband to cheat on me countless times. I would have loved to have been married to him.”
She acknowledged that she’s “now grateful” for the love she has with Russell, since her relationship with Caussin “wasn’t right”. Kramer once again defended her decision to get a divorce from the NFL star, as well as her choice to find love again.
“I would not have stayed for that many years affair after affair,” she explained. “I don’t want that, but I do want love, you know. And that’s the piece too, even with the upcoming wedding. There’s an embarrassment with it, and people don’t know the whole story.”
Aside from speaking openly about her divorces, Kramer has continued to discuss how happy she is in her relationship with Russell. After the pair announced their engagement in May 2023, Russell appeared on his partner’s podcast and was asked when he knew he wanted to marry her. In response, he said he knew he wanted to propose “pretty much from the moment” he met her, before describing why he felt rushed to pop the question.
“If something feels right in your heart and your soul then I think you should follow it,” he said. “We trust each other, it’s built on respect for each other,”
He pointed out that while he and Kramer got engaged after six months of dating, it didn’t feel too soon for either of them. “There was no rush to do anything at all. It just felt right,” he added.
