Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin‘s chemistry was undeniable on the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards.
While the couple didn’t walk the red carpet ahead of the Sunday, May 17, ceremony on the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, they were seen looking loved-up at the identical table as breakout star Ella Langley through the Prime Video broadcast.
McLoughlin, 34, leapt to his feet and started clapping when Langley’s hit song “Choosin’ Texas,” which Lambert, 43, cowrote and produced, received the award for Single of the Yr, marking Lambert’s twentieth profession ACM win. The couple also posed for photos with fellow nominee Lainey Wilson and her latest husband, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, inside the world.
Lambert received eight ACM Awards nominations this 12 months, including Female Artist of the Yr, Song of the Yr, Music Event of the Yr and Visual Media of the Yr for “A Song to Sing” with Chris Stapleton and Music Event of the Yr for “Trailblazer” with Reba McEntire and Lainey Wilson. Lambert also performed her latest single, “Crisco,” in an all-denim outfit with a white cowboy hat through the show.
Brendan McLoughlin, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson and Devlin “Duck” Hodges John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM
Lambert and McLoughlin have kept a comparatively low profile since tying the knot in January 2019. In her September 2024 Us Weekly cover story, she offered rare insight into the pair’s relationship away from the prying eyes of the general public.
“I suppose the thing I’ve learned probably the most is just that communication is all the pieces,” she told Us on the time. “Love doesn’t all the time cut it. You’ve got to discuss s***. And you could have to compromise sometimes and be willing to hearken to one another when you could have something essential to say. Love is difficult some days, however the reward is so value it.”
Lambert also credited McLoughlin with difficult her in positive ways.
“He calls me out, and I really like that. I want that,” she explained of her husband. “I don’t think it’s healthy that folks, especially artists or celebrities, surround themself with yes people. For those who surround yourself with a gaggle of people who find themselves honest with you, you’ll go lots farther, and it’s lots healthier in the long term.”
As for the way the duo spend their downtime, Lambert insisted they’re just like several other couple.
“We’re pretty chill,” she noted. “Once we’re off work, I’m in my patio hang vibe. We’ll make drinks and hearken to music. Sometimes we’ll have the most effective parties just by ourselves. He loves what he calls ‘joyful hour music’ — Matchbox Twenty and Goo Goo Dolls. So now we have different tastes, but we’ll sit there for hours and listen. Sometimes I say to him, ‘We form of survive a date,’ which is pretty awesome.”
Then five years into her marriage to McLoughlin, Lambert looked back on their whirlwind romance.
“I form of went for it; no risk, no reward,” she told Us of marrying McLoughlin after three months together. “I just felt just like the worst that would occur, I’ve lived through. If it ends, it ends.”
She continued, “For those who don’t put your heart on the market, are you ever going to get the massive love that everyone wants, that each one the songs are about, that each one the films are about? I’m guarded in a variety of ways, but on the subject of my heart, I’m like, what do you actually must lose? Pain is pain, however it passes.”





