Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman has been holding onto a secret for over 18 years, and she finally shared her truth on the TODAY show with Jenna Bush Hager and viewers.
The host set the stage for this grand unveiling when she asked Schlapman if she had ever experienced a ‘wild night’ while on vacation.
“I do have a story…” the female country star said with a bit of nervousness in her voice. Although she expressed a bit of hesitation towards sharing the story, Schlapman finally revealed that he and her husband, Stephen Schlapman, secretly eloped before tying the knot in front of family and friends in 2006.
“My husband, I call him Schlap. My last name is Schlapman. My late husband’s name was Steve. This one’s name is Steve. I can’t call both of my beautiful husbands Steve. So this is Schlap,” the 55-year-old told Jenna. “So Schlap and I got married in November 2006. But six months earlier, we eloped to Vegas.”
Jenna also inquired about an Elvis Presley impersonator, to which Schlapman said was present in fact present at the reception.
With a look of shock on her face as she took in this news, Jenna then asked if the elopement was a spontaneous decision that came about after a few drinks in Vegas. Schlapman went on to explain that the elopement was actually planned.
“We planned that we were going to go because we were meeting some family out at the big, beautiful lake out there. And so Schlap was like, ‘What if we go a day early to get married?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve never done anything bad. Yes! Yes!’” she recalled.
Until Now, Only Four People Knew About The Secret
A very important part of this story to note is that up until this moment on-air, only “four people on the whole Earth know about it,” and that didn’t include Schlapman’s mom, dad or either of her two kids.
“Nobody knew. No one knew,” she shared.
So before sitting down with Jenna and unveiling the news with the world, the “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” singer admitted to calling her parents just 10 minutes prior to let them in on the secret.
“So I decided before I could say it I needed to call my mama, so I did that, like, 10 minutes ago,” Schlapman explained. “And I was like, ‘Mama, is Daddy there? Can he hear me? I have to tell you something.’ And I told her, and she’s like, ‘What?’ And then finally I got more nervous and nervous, and then she started giggling.”
She then noted she was “still shaking” just thinking about having to finally come clean to her parents, but at the same time felt “free” to no longer be keeping it to herself.
Little Big Town Bandmate Karen Fairchild Got The Scoop
Among the four people who did know were her sister and her Little Big Town bandmate, Karen Fairchild. At the time she and her other half were planning their private celebration, the band was booking hotel rooms for their tour and Schlapman needed to have an explanation for why she wanted to book a separate room for her and her soon-to-be hubby.
“I had to tell Karen (Fairchild) because I wanted a hotel room with my husband, and so she knew,” Schlapman said.
“By the way, I was scared for what was coming, and that was pretty good,” Jenna admitted to Schlapman about the big mystery.
“It’s pretty good, huh? It’s pretty fun. I’m proud of it,” Schlapman added before asking viewers, “don’t judge.”
“No, do not judge. That was amazing,” Jenna said.
In conclusion, the singer/songwriter shared that keeping this important life detail to herself all these years was definitely worth it. “It was beautiful and wonderful and it’s worked out.”
Kimberly and Stephen Schlapman’s Love Story
Kimberly and Stephen Schlapman have been in each other’s lives for many years now and before they were married they were just good friends. She previously told The Boot that when her first husband, Steven Roads, died from a heart attack in April of 2005, Stephen became her rock to lean on.
“I wasn’t planning on falling in love, at all,” she shared. “My husband now and I were just really good friends, and after my late husband died, all my friends were calling me, all the time. Just checking up on me. [Stephen Schlapman] was just an old friend. We had known each other for about six years, and he started calling me just like everybody else did. But he started calling me more than everybody else did.”
Their love started to flourish in that time, and before they knew it they had turned from friends to partners. Their wedding took place in 2006, which we now know came several months after they had already said “I do” in Sin City.
In July of 2007, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Daisy Pearl. Schlapman tried to have more children but after experiencing a miscarriage and having no success with artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilization, they decided to adopt. This journey brought Dolly Grace into the family in 2017.
This family of four continues to share a happy life together while Kimberly Schlapman builds on the success of her music career as a member of her second family, Little Big Town.
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