Is Kenny Chesney gay? The rumors, explained

When it comes to beloved country singer Kenny Chesney, there are many facts about his life that continue to pique public interest – his status as an acquitted horse thief, the fact that he has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, or how he made it U.S. Billboard’s Top 10 singles more than 40 times. And for some unfathomable reason, his sexuality also continues to spark speculation.

As we pointed out, Chesney is lots of other things: An award-winning artist with multiple certified platinum albums. A humanitarian who has donated the use of his private plane to help people affected by climate catastrophes and contributed all of the proceeds from his 18th album to the victims of Hurricane Irma. And that wasn’t a joke earlier – he really was arrested in 2000 for trying to steal a police horse in Buffalo, New York. Tim McGraw was charged with assault for trying to help him fend off the cops. Country music is punk rock sometimes.

But interest in his achievements and public antics often veer towards his private life, often armed with questions about whether the singer is gay or not.

What sparked the rumors of Kenny Chesney being gay?

The said rumors made the rounds thanks to a heaping pile of media conjecture close to 20 years ago. In 2005, Chesney married Renée Zellweger. That’s not why people thought he was gay – it was because the couple split after four months, annulling their marriage over what Zellweger enigmatically described as “fraud.” Zellweger would go on to clarify, kind of, saying that “fraud” was a legal term, not a reflection of Chesney’s character. Chesney would later state that the real reason for the brevity of the couple’s time together came down to his own misunderstanding of what married life would be like.

But neither the explanation of what brought a speedy end to their relationship nor the country singer’s next, currently ongoing relationship, did anything to quash the speculations.

Since 2012, Chesney has been involved with an actress and model named Mary Nolan. The two are notoriously private about their life together, but to the best of anyone’s ability to determine, they have yet to tie the knot, instead enjoying the freewheeling, annulment-free life of a low-key couple who like each other, and knows how much of a pain legal separation can be.