LeAnn Rimes and ex-husband Dean Sheremet had a tumultuous split in 2009, after Rimes’ affair with Lifetime movie costar Eddie Cibrian, but it has now become even messier as Sheremet opens up about what went wrong after seven years of marriage.

Sheremet tells Nat’s Next Adventure a combination of things leading up to the affair interfered with their relationship, primarily the fact that Sheremet was highly involved with her career in a professional sense.

"I felt like I was never having my needs met so there was fighting," he says. "And I was so intertwined in managing her career that I didn't know how to make the distinction between husband and boss, husband and partner, husband and manager… I was husband, father, friend, lover, manager. There were so many hats and I didn't know what hat to wear when."

Sheremet says he had never felt threatened by Cibrian, thinking the actor was "just another one of those Hollywood pretty boys." He went on to reveal the moment he knew something was going on between Rimes and Cibrian.

"There was this bar that everyone hung out at after set and I remember coming down the stairs and seeing the two of them shooting pool together," he recalls. "I could just tell by the body language that everything had changed. She's shooting pool, shooting tequila, in a tight tank, tight jeans, over the knee boots and she's standing across from him, playing with the pool cue. All of a sudden, there was a huge shift. My stomach dropped. I literally felt like I got hit."

Though he complimented Rimes’ talent and skill, Sheremet still appears to be a bit hostile about the situation, commenting, "The dumbest thing she ever did for her career was divorce me, because we were such a good team. The last hit song she had was when she was with me." Sheremet was referencing "Nothin’ Better to Do," which released in 2007 and was a Top 20 hit.

He concludes that Rimes "lives on the adoration of others," but does concede that the artist is "one of the most talented people I've ever met."

Rimes is still working on her career, and in 2014 she released one of three Christmas EPs she plans on unveiling over the next two years.

See LeAnn Rimes and Other Stars as Kids

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