By Jared Sais
It’s been a tumultuous three years for LeAnn Rimes, a timeframe that includes her divorce from ex-husband Dean Sheremet and her very public affair with — and subsequent marriage to — Northern Lights co-star, Eddie Cibrian. Despite the fact that Rimes and Cibrian will celebrate their two-year anniversary in April, questions still persist as to what really happened during one of the most epic celebrity cheating scandals of the decade. But never fear: CupidsPulse.com’s very own celebrity detective is here to analyze this clip from a recent interview with Rimes and E!’s Giuliana Rancic.
*Author’s Note: The video begins with an often overlooked aspect of television interviews: music. Music can be a very powerful instrument and one that greatly affects the emotional experience of a visual event (that’s why the best soundtracks are inseparable in our minds with great moments in television, film and, of course, music videos). It’s crucial to ignore the music and focus only on Rimes’s non-verbal expressions and body language, which are quite revealing on their own.
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(0:09) After Rimes is asked, “Why act on it when you’re both married and you both have families?,” she responds by saying that it’s a “huge question” and flashing a masking smile, which differs from a fake smile in that its purpose is to mask a different emotion — in this case, sadness.
(0:10) A second later, a melancholy Rimes shoots her head down, exhibiting the number one sign of shame as she thinks about her role in the scandal and the after effects that she and Cibrian might still be experiencing.
(0:13) With her head still down, Rimes shows a micro-expression of fear: lips parted and the corners of her mouth widen. She’s most likely worried about how she will look if she is not careful in her response to this difficult and personal question.
(0:15) Before she raises her head to answer the question, she licks her lips, which can be an indication that a person is about to tell a lie. When we lie, our body is forcing itself to do something unnatural, so it goes into a state of stress; one’s mouth will often dry up, which is usually countered by licking the lips. Keep this in mind because the next thing Rimes says is “I never, ever in my heart want to hurt anyone.” Immediately after answering, she looks to Rancic to see if what she said has been positively received. This is a key giveaway that either what she just said wasn’t true or it was prepared since she needs to gauge whether or not it was accepted.
(0:26) Hand gestures can mean many things, but Rimes mainly uses her hands to tell us a story about her and her ex. By bringing her hands far apart when she says “separate,” she indicates both emotional and physical distance with Sheremet. Her hands then become interlocked when she says “super-connected,” which tells us that she did not feel that way in her first marriage.
(0:44) Rimes’s hands continue to tell the story of her relationship to Sheremet, even doing a folding or “breaking” motion when she says the word “break.” She believes what she is saying, making a confirming head nod and moving her hands up and down when she says, “You can’t break what’s broken.”
(1:00) Rimes starts to cry, and if you look at her left hand, it remains in the “break” position. This action could be her remembering a specific instance of something negative that transpired in their relationship, or it could represent what she is feeling at this moment.
Related Link: LeAnn Rimes Breaks Down Over the Ending of Her First Marriage
(1:02) Certain non-verbal cues have crossed-over into the general consciousness of people to the point where it is essentially part of our known behavioral language, and “the raised index finger” is one we all know. It means, “Wait, I need a moment,” and Rimes uses it as she gathers herself. She then tell us that nobody could possibly know how much anguish they all experienced throughout this process — something that she seems to regret.
(1:03) Here, Rimes exhibits the protypical facial expression for sadness: inner eyelids are raised, a little bulge appears in the middle of her eyebrows, lip corners are pulled down, and the chin is a bit dimpled. This look is followed by Rimes putting her hand in front of her face with her fingers pointing upwards. This gesture is commonly thought to be an indication of lying, but to be more accurate, it is both a blocking mechanism — she physically uses her hand to mask what her face can no longer hide (sadness) — and a gesture to muffle whatever is about to come out of her mouth.
Conclusion
Rimes is clearly upset, but her lack of actual tears makes the exact reason why unclear. It seems like she is more upset at the result of the scandal (her rocky relationships with her ex-husband, Cibrian’s ex-wife and perhaps even Cibrian). In the end, I think she might be a little broken herself and is simply trying to cope with the situation as best she can. Ultimately, if she is truly happy with Cibrian, all this strife will have been worth it. However, if she isn’t and their relationship goes sour, her theory that “only unbreakable relationships are unbreakable” may have unfortunately been proven right again.
Do you think LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian are meant to be? Tell us in the comments below!
