Aurora Starchild
Some people can’t catch a break. Hallmark star Jana Kramer may be an incredibly successful performer, but her love life has been anything but. The 39-year-old babe is a momma to two and has already been divorced three times. Here’s a look at the country singer’s achingly messy love life.
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Jana Kramer’s Early Rise to Fame
Born December 2, 1983, in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Jana Kramer is the youngest of two. She and her brother experience the breaking up of their family when their parents divorced. Jana then moved to Dearborn, Michigan, then California, and later Tennessee.
Jana’s acting debut occurred in the two-year period that she lived in California. At age 18, she appeared in a low-budget horror film called Dead/Undead. Her TV debut was the next year, in a single episode of All My Children. She continued to land roles in film and TV, including for CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, the 90210 reboot, and Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis. From 2009 to 2012, Kramer starred as Alex Dupré on One Tree Hill. But after signing on with Elektra Records in 2011, the actress decided to step away from the show in favor of pursuing her music career.
Kramer is a Talented Multi-Hyphenate Performer
The timing was perfect. Jana Kramer’s solo debut premiered a song, “I Won’t Give Up,” on an episode of One Tree Hill and immediately gained widespread recognition. Her song reached 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She released two albums, Jana Kramer in 2012 and Thirty One in 2015. Her soulful lyrics about love and heartbreak hit listeners in the soft spot. Sadly, it seems that she was also crooning from a place of experience. Kramer also received nearly a dozen big nominations for her music, including the American Country Awards and CMT Awards. In 2013, she won the American Country Music award for Top New Female Artist.
Jana was featured in two of her own music videos in 2013 (“I Hope It Rains” and “Why You Wanna”) before jumping back into her acting career. In 2016, she made 4th place in the 23rd season of Dancing With the Stars. The next year, she starred in Hallmark’s Love at First Bark. That same year, she began working with A&E’s Lifetime Channel, and has since become a TV movie icon.
With her talent, dedication to her career, and stunning beauty, one would think that Jana Kramer would be happily settled by now. But sometimes people have bad luck or perhaps are drawn to the wrong kind of partners.
Jana’s First Husband, Michael Gambino, Was Abusive
Kramer met her first husband, Michael Gambino, in 2004 when she was 19 years old. Gambino was 17 years older than her, but they hit it off, marrying two weeks later in Las Vegas. But the relationship turned ugly very fast. They divorced within months. The following year, Gambino was put away for attempted murder.
“He was a smooth-talker, very charming, intriguing and obviously older,” Kramer told People years later. “At the time, I liked that. I felt protected.”
But Gambino would become jealous and abusive, to the point where Kramer felt too scared to even go in their house. “He’d come home at 3 o’clock in the morning and pick me up out of bed, throw me onto the ground and start yelling and hitting,” she said. Then she’d go back inside, and he’d act as nothing happened.
At one point, Kramer said Gambino sent her a photo of her dogs on a freeway and threatened to let them run off if she didn’t come back to him.
“My self-confidence went down each time he was abusive,” she recalled. It happened to be during a time when Kramer needed to be confident so that she could succeed in her burgeoning career.
Gambino Committed Suicide After He Was Released from Prison
On August 6, 2005, Gambino put his hands around Kramer’s throat and choked her until she was unconscious. He left her outside their home in LA, bleeding on the ground.
“I remember praying that night, ‘Please, just take me away, I don’t want to be here anymore,’” she said.
Gambino was convicted of premeditated attempted murder and sentenced to 6 years in prison. But after he was let out early on parole, he committed suicide.
“I’m so embarrassed and afraid no one will love me because of my past, but I’m ready to put it out there now,” Kramer told People. “If I can help one person, I’ll be thankful for what happened — and I can move forward.”
Kramer went into further detail about Gambino’s abuse in a tearful interview with Good Morning America, which you can watch here. What she described is a classic case of domestic abuse, one which started as verbal and eventually became violent.
Kramer’s Marriage to Johnathan Schaech Lasted 3 Weeks
Jana Kramer’s next big romance was with Time of Your Life actor Johnathan Schaech, who was 14 years her senior. They met in 2008 on the set of the horror flick Prom Night. Schaech was previously married to Christina Applegate from 2001 to 2007. Schaech and Kramer married in late July of 2010 but broke up 12 days later in August. Their divorce wasn’t finalized until the following year.
The pair have remained amicable, however. In a 2022 episode of Kramer’s Whine Down podcast, Schaech admitted that he hadn’t healed his heart after his divorce from Applegate before moving on to his next relationship. Kramer agreed, calling themselves “two very unhealed souls who came together.”
“We had wounds that needed to be healed, and we needed to do growth separately,” she added.
Schaech Still Has a Photo of Their Wedding Day on Social Media… But Not for the Reason You May Think
One year earlier, Johnathan Schaech rubbed Jana the wrong way when he posted a photo of them on their wedding day.
“I had to explain this photo to my son today. I told him I’ve been married three times. But I got it right when I married his mother,” he wrote. He then tagged Jana. “@kramergirl and I lasted a week. We weren’t meant but for this photo and friendship.” Schaech is currently happily married to Julie Solomon and they have two children together.
Kramer spoke out about the post on another Whine Down episode. “Why are you posting a photo of our wedding day? That’s from the past. I didn’t want to see that photo on Twitter. Now you’re tagging me in it,” she said (via People). “It bothered me.”
“I ended up texting John because he started to continue commenting about how it was a horrible day and nothing was real about it,” she said. “And I’m like, can you be nice and not say mean things about me on Twitter?” She admitted that she wanted to ask Schaech to take the post down, but as of now it is still on the internet.
Kramer Was Engaged to Brantley Gilbert But They Called It Off
Jana Kramer then briefly dated Chris Evans, but that didn’t go well either. While there wasn’t anything truly horrible about the fling, Kramer admitted on Whine Down that it ended with an embarrassing moment. She and some friends were at his house for dinner, and they’d eaten asparagus. She thinks that Evans was turned off after he used the bathroom just after she did.
“And so that’s the last interaction that I remember is him going to the bathroom after I just went to the bathroom with asparagus pee and never hearing from him again,” she said.
Next was country singer Brantley Gilbert. Kramer and Gilbert met at the CMT Awards in June of 2012. By January 2013, they were engaged. The marriage was called off in August of 2013.
I’m really sorry for the person that I was,” Kramer said on a Whine Down episode, “and the way that I wasn’t healthy enough to be in that relationship.” That specific Whine Down podcast episode was an early embodiment, which used to feature Kramer’s now ex-husband Michael Caussin as a co-host. They were speaking about their own ups and downs, which we will get to in a moment.
But first, Scott Eastwood. Us Weekly reported that Kramer was dating Clint Eastwood’s son for a moment in late 2013. A friend of Eastwood’s said that he was “really into her” and had committed more quickly than is usual of him. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, that commitment was short-lived.
Third Husband Michael Caussin Was Addicted to Sex
After all of these men, one would hope that Jana Kramer could finally find Mr. Right. She thought so too when she started dating former Washington NFL star Michael Caussin. In fact, Kramer once told Us Weekly in 2015 that she knew he was the man she would marry when he first stepped foot on her tour bus the previous year. Just two months into their relationship, he cheated on her.
But sweet talking and promises to change got the best of Kramer, and they became engaged by December of 2014. An insider told Us Weekly that the Hallmark star still didn’t trust Caussin, though. Jana was anxious during his bachelor’s weekend prior to the wedding and tried to use a friend’s phone to bait him. “She texted him, saying something along the lines of ‘Had fun last night,’” the source to Us Weekly. “She was trying to bait him to see if he had met anyone.” When she didn’t hear back, Kramer decided that Caussin was a changed man.
The couple were married in May 2015 and Kramer was pregnant a few months later. But Kramer caught Caussin cheating again — with a paid escort who he saw regularly. That, in addition to small town rumors of his infidelities, led the couple to separate. At that point, their daughter Jolie had been born.
Jana Allegedly Slept With a Married Man While She Was Separated from Caussin
Kramer later admitted to having flings while she and Mike Caussin were separated. According to Us Weekly, one of those flings was with Dancing With the Stars alum Gleb Savchenko. At the time of their fling, Savchenko was married to now ex-wife Elena Samodanova.
But again, Caussin made promises to change, and they got back together in December 2017 after he entered therapy for sex addiction. Their second child, Jace, was born in November 2018.
Caussin continued to have sex addiction relapses. Kramer kept finding photos, messages, and other evidence of his cheating. She filed for divorce in April of 2021, citing “inappropriate marital conduct, irreconcilable differences and adultery.” They finalized the divorce a few months later.
Caussin Cheated on Kramer With Over 13 Women Before They Divorced
Jana Kramer opened up to her fans about the split on social media.
“It’s time. As I try to make sense of a reality I never wanted to believe could be possible again, those words have now become a reality,” she wrote.
I’ve fought y’all. I’ve loved hard. I’ve forgiven. I’ve put the work in. I’ve given everything I have, and now I have nothing else to give,” she continued. “Please know that I still believe wholeheartedly in marriage, love, and rebuilding. I just can’t fight any longer. It’s time to heal. Thank you for all the love, heart, and support, in many ways you have fought on this journey alongside me, and for that I am grateful. I’ll always encourage you to continue the good fight, but you can’t fight it alone.
Jana Kramer
While speaking with Jada Pinkett Smith on an episode of Red Table Talk, Kramer clarified that Caussin had cheated on her with more than 13 women.
“[He’d say] ‘I’m gonna get baptized’ or ‘I’m gonna go to therapy every week’ or ‘I’m gonna go to a meeting,’” she said in October 2022. “It’s like, ‘I’m never gonna do it again with the next one because now I’m gonna be a better man.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, I want that better man.’”
“Finally, the last time, last April when I caught him again, he’s like, ‘Now I know that I’ll never do it again.’ And I’m like, ‘And you know what? For that person, she’s gonna be real lucky that you won’t.’ And that’s when I left.”
Will the Mysterious English Soccer Player Be the One?
Jana was then spotted with Navy Seal Ian Schinelli, before admitting that they were dating. But that, too, was short-lived, and by Spring of 2022 they’d broken up.
But there’s hope. On her January 22, 2023, Whine Down podcast, Kramer said she has a new boyfriend. But she won’t reveal his name. She let her listeners know that he’s a soccer star who lives in England and that they’re in a serious but long-distance relationship.
While Jana admitted that she can never know for sure if this man’s going to last, or how she’ll handle the long-distance aspect, she did say this:
“I’ll never get into a situation again where I don’t trust someone because I do not like who I become. Something is just very different about this relationship that I have zero worries or fears. And if something was to happen, again, I’m like, ‘Alright, like, thanks for showing me who you are and I’m out.’”
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