Why Hollywood Stopped Casting Eddie Cibrian
Edward Carl Cibrian (known in Hollywood as Eddie Cibrian) was born on June 16, 1973 in Burbank, California. The TV actor got his big break on the small screen in 1994 when he landed a role on legendary soap opera The Young and the Restless. Before that, he was attending UCLA, pursuing a business degree, and working as a security guard at a Nordstrom in California.
Cibrian's next big role came in 1996 when he joined the cast of Baywatch Nights. Other fun gigs followed, including Sunset Beach in 1997, Third Watch in 1999, Ugly Betty in 2008, CSI: Miami in 2009 and Rosewood in 2016. Despite his rather successful time on the small screen, however, Cibrian seems to have completely disappeared from the spotlight in recent years. As it turns out, he may be keeping a low profile due to major drama in his personal life and a lack of good job opportunities.
His alleged affair with LeAnn Rimes made him a tabloid target
It was March 2009 when Eddie Cibrian was first accused of cheating on his wife, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, with country star LeAnn Rimes (who was married to dancer Dean Sheremet at the time). The pair met while shooting a Lifetime original movie titled Northern Lights and rumors of an affair soon began swirling.
In July 2009, Cibrian's manager confirmed that the actor had separated from his wife and, a few days later, it was announced that Rimes and her husband had separated, just four months after speculation first began. Both Cibrian and Rimes denied the affair.
In August 2009, the actor sat down for an interview with Entertainment Tonight after being spotted spending time with Rimes (whom he eventually married in April 2011). "I don't know how people perceive me," he told the outlet (via People). "What I do know is when you reach a certain point in your career you're placed in this unfair fishbowl. Things unfortunately get magnified. We are all human, we are all not perfect."
Cibrian went on to briefly address his ex-wife and children, saying: "I love my family dearly, and I'm a great father. It just saddens me that this is hurtful and being played out publicly."
His ex won't let it go
Following her divorce, Glanville spent many years dragging Cibrian and Rimes' names through the mud, setting the tabloids ablaze with bizarre, sometimes uncomfortable headlines (like, you know, the time she said she wanted to "kill" Rimes).
Apparently, time still hasn't healed any wounds. In 2016, for example, Cibrian was back in the headlines after Glanville complained during a podcast about Rimes posting pictures of Glanville's kids on social media during the holidays. "Get that vodka out, I'll grab three bottles of chardonnay, cry myself to sleep and look at what they're doing for Christmas. It's hell," Glanville said (via People). "I told her, I said 'It doesn't make me mad, it hurts my feelings.' I'm missing half of their life as it is."
Cibrian quickly fired back, telling People that the accusations were false. "She lies for the sake of publicity and she has to bring in my wife unfortunately for it to make headlines," he said of his ex. "It isn't fair. She never asked LeAnn to not post pictures of the kids during the holidays, ever... It's unfair for LeAnn. What has she done? Nothing, but love the children."
"She sees the kids as much as I do," he added. "She was with them for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And I miss my kids tremendously when they're not with me, but I don't ask her not to post pictures."
And neither will Rimes' ex
Not only did Cibrian's ex-wife publicly shame him and his new wife, but LeAnn Rimes' ex-husband, Dean Sheremet, has also gone after Cibrian in the press. Speaking with Nat's Next Adventure in 2015, Sheremet remembered his very first meeting with Cibrian, declaring: "I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw this f***ing table. He just felt like one of those guys from the beginning. A total schmoozer. Very Hollywood. I never bought his shtick. But I wasn't worried."
The professional dancer went on to air his bitterness and anger further, saying: "The dumbest thing [Rimes] 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," he declared, referring to Rimes' 2007 single, "Nothing Better to Do."
If that wasn't enough already, in 2017, Sheremet teamed up with Glanville to appear on the reality show My Kitchen Rules. At this rate, you couldn't blame a person for not wanting to hear about anyone involved in this saga ever again.
At the end of the day, nobody really cared about Eddie and LeAnn
Given the amount of tabloid attention Cibrian and Rimes' relationship has received over the years, you'd think the public would be itching for a peak inside the drama, kind of like how audiences rushed to see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie get it on in Mr. and Mrs. Smith after reports of their affair had leaked.
Certainly, Rimes and Cibrian must have had that thought in the back of their heads when the couple signed up to film the reality show LeAnn & Eddie in 2014. "The biggest global misconception would be that we're not two people who are really in love with each other, that there are ulterior motives to our relationship," Rimes told People in 2014, ahead of the show's premiere. "But people just don't get it. Hopefully people will get a chance to see how we just click."
Sadly for them, that never happened. The show premiered to "soft" ratings; eight episodes later, VH1 officially pulled the plug on the show, signaling to the tabloid-friendly couple, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
He had several major acting flops in a row
In recent years, much of Cibrian's resume has mostly involved bit parts or recurring roles on various television shows, as well as corny TV movies. One reason behind that may have to do with a string of high-profile flops, some of which were canceled abruptly or never made it to air in the first place.
Case in point: the NBC drama The Playboy Club, which premiered to high controversy but incredibly low ratings in the fall of 2011. After three disastrous episodes, NBC unceremoniously pulled the plug on the series, making it the first new network show of the season to get canceled. Ouch.
Meanwhile, right as the plug was pulled from LeAnn & Eddie, Cibrian landed a new role that didn't fare much better. When it was announced that Cibrian would star alongside Monica Potter in a new sitcom, playing her ex-husband, there was major buzz. But although the show was to be executive produced by none other than talk show queen Ellen DeGeneres and have a script written by Friends alums Sherry Bilsing-Graham and Ellen Kreamer, it was not meant to be.
NBC "decided not to move forward with its untitled comedy pilot" in 2015, as reported by TV Line. Why? No specific reason was given, but the outlet did confirm that "NBC and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to put the pause button on the potential series for creative reasons."
He's not as in-demand as he once was
Sure, Cibrian recently appeared on the FOX crime drama Rosewood; however, the role only came about after the actor who was originally cast quit.
Following the sudden departure of Brian Austin Green from Fox's Rosewood, Cibrian was tapped to join the cast as a brand new character named Aaron Slade. As reported by TV Line, Green was in the middle of shooting the Season 2 premiere as Aaron Slade, which was to be his very first episode, when he abruptly decided to leave the show. Allegedly, "Green and producers made the mutual decision that the role was not a good fit." The network quickly chose Cibrian to take on the role of Captain Ryan Slade.
But alas, it wasn't meant to be. On May 9, 2017, TV Line confirmed that Fox had pulled the plug on the show due to dropping viewership. In its debut season, the show aired right before Fox hit series Empire and averaged 4.8 million total viewers. Come its second season, that number had dropped to 3 million, which was not enough for producers to keep it on the air.
As of May 2017, there was no word on any upcoming gigs or lucrative contracts for Cibrian.
Fatherhood may be on the horizon (again)
As LeAnn Rimes has slowly adapted to being a stepmom to Cibrian's two young sons, she hasn't ruled out the possibility of having her own baby with Cibrian.
Speaking with ITV1's Loose Women in 2016, Rimes admitted: "Of course that's going to come up! We practice a lot! I'll take my time." But even if she's in no rush, she has already been fantasizing about what motherhood might be like. As she told Entertainment Tonight in November 2015, "I think I would probably have a Baby Bjorn, and singing with the kid. It's hard to put them down. They're so cute."