Ree Drummond’s daughter, Alex, got married on May first on Ree’s Oklahoma compound. It was an outdoor wedding and the crowded maskless reception was held in a tent. Hecate has been covering Ree lately (she’s away for a few days this week!) and she mentioned that Ladd, Ree’s husband, had been kicked in the head by a cow about a week before the wedding. What’s more is that Ladd was already in a neck brace before that from a car accident on the way to fight a fire. So he’s been through it lately. He’s 52 and is still living dangerously. According to OK! Magazine, Ree can’t talk sense into Ladd about taking it easy and being more careful. What’s more is that he’s said to resent the fact that she’s the one making most of the money.
The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond and her husband, Ladd, make frontier life look fabulous. But an insider says that privately, the cowboy’s bullheadedness is getting on his wife’s nerves! After Ladd, 52, fractured his neck in a car accident last March – and got kicked in the head by a cow! – on the couple’s Pawhhuska, OK, ranch, Ree, 52 “figured he would slow down, but he still thinks he can herd cattle and wrangle horses,” says the insider. “She finds it reckless.” Meanwhile, Ladd, who had to wear a neck brace to the recent wedding of their daughter Alex, 23, “resents” that [Ree] – who reportedly earns as much as $25 million a year – “is the breadwinner, so he’s always trying to prove himself,” the insider spills. “Ree thinks Ladd should leave the brunt of the hard work to the younger guys, but whenever she tries to talk sense into him, he just grunts and ignores her.”
[From OK! Magazine, print edition, June 21, 2021]
This is OK! Magazine, but these are minor celebrities so it’s possible they have a source. Plus it’s common sense. Whatever Ladd is doing it doesn’t seem safe just judging by all the accidents he’s had lately. The last time we reported on her, Ree had lost weight ahead of her daughter’s wedding. Many people lose weight before weddings, including mothers of the bride. Many people also lose weight when they’re having relationship issues. I’m just saying! I don’t think it’s happening, but if it’s true that Ladd doesn’t like the fact that Ree makes more money than he does that points to big problems in their marriage.
He’s got that “MAGA Starter Kit” goatee going on, of course he resents his wife earning more than him.
I think she probably earns more liquid money between her shows, cookbooks, restaurants, and hotel, but I bet he’s still “worth more” because of the value of the land on the ranch.
I don’t remember this but my mom (you know, the PW devotee turned hate follower, lol) used to follow the blog when it first started. (I only ever went there when someone recommended a recipe.) Anyway, she said that in the beginning Ree posted a lot about troubles in her marriage, I guess Ladd just did his thing and Ree felt very isolated and cut off, etc. And then when the blog started to hit big and her brand took off a lot of those posts were scrubbed and now everything about Ladd is about how in love they are and how hot she thinks he is etc.
She built her blog with mixer giveaways. At one point she was even giving away clothes from her closet.
omg I remember the mixer giveaways bc my mom was always trying to get me to enter. I was like, why, I have a nice KA mixer (and so does my mom lol, I think she likes the ugly patterns but won’t admit it.)
Did she dress back then like she does now???
Who wanted to win those clothes?!?!
milliemollie: No she did not. I used to read her blog back when she first started and it was still hosted on TypePad.
That Ree is NOTHING like the Ree that exists now. A complete personality change. She started changing a few months right after publishing Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and when the book got optioned by Reese Witherspoon’s production company.
Her new “Country Bumpkin look” started right before her Food Network appearance on that Thanksgiving episode with Bobby Flay.
After she hired the PR company, Porter Novelli, she scrubbed her website completely. Deleted all her f-words, most of the offensive references and images of her brother Mike that she NOW refers as developmentally disabled instead of “ret-ed”, family drama, her “history” with Ladd, and the actual things that made her “interesting,” deleted any links back to her original TypePad account, and changed a ton of her backstory.
Isn’t he the largest landowner in Oklahoma? I read an article in Southern Living (Mom’s fave) years ago about her. She was on Wall Street and I think met him in connection with a credit arrangement for his huge ranch business. Well, she married Richie Rich, moved to relatively rural Oklahoma and appears to be industriously making lemonade.
I don’t know about in Oklahoma alone, but I think “the Drummonds” are one of the largest private landowners in the country. Maybe #15 or 17 in the country?
The Drummond Ranch is supposedly 433,000 acres, which is 675 square miles. It’s been described as the 23rd largest property in the country. And it’s from his family. So he is definitely worth $$$$, in terms of assets. Not sure what is happening between the two of them. I do know several men who have difficulty with women/wives earning significant money.
I really recommend the podcast “This Land”, about Native Land Rights, particularly in Oklahoma. (If that sounds dry to you, it’s based around a grisly murder and is only 8 episodes long.) Whenever I catch a glimpse of the Drummond Ranch, I wonder how much of it is on Native land.
I am here to second ‘This Land’ podcast
I used to follow her blog. She started out on a photography social media site called Flickr. A lot of photographers started blogging and at first her blog was about stuff like burping and her brother with cognitive disabilities, and yeah more personal stuff about her life. It was actually kind of bitchy sometimes and fun. She did mustang beauty contests and talked shit about people.
Along the way she must have gotten a consultant because she started writing more about homeschooling and recipes, Christian lady type stuff and hired other writers and comment scrubbing moderators and I checked out. It made her bank, though, gotta respect her teal Fiesta wear loving Target low level saucepan line rich ass.
I’m dying at this description of her: “teal Fiesta wear loving Target low level saucepan line rich ass” OMG. So perfect!!
I dislike her because she’s Stepforded all personality and charm from her presentation for money…so bland and inoffensive. She clearly walks on eggshells to preserve his fragile masculinity and makes herself smaller so he can feel bigger. She didn’t owe the public a front row seat to her actual thoughts and feelings until she started presenting this fake-ass ideal life and marriage lie for financial gain. I guess she still doesn’t, but the cognitive dissonance must be overwhelming.
When your literal multimillion dollar brand is Trad Wife, it’s no surprise your Trad Husband feels “emasculated” by your success.
Bingo!
My dad is a cattle farmer. He’s 81. They never stop.
My cattle farming grandfather was attacked by a cow at 78. Long list of fractures. Walked back to the house and then had my grandmother drive him to hospital 30 minutes away. In hospital for months. Recovered and still worked a few more years. Only stopped because he developed Parkinson’s.
My uncle worked on the ranch till the day he died. He said it was hard but he was grateful to have “the work” and he thought that’s why he outlived most of his siblings. He never wanted to get up and have nothing to do. Ladd is leading his best life. No reason to stop unless he wants to.
Their marriage was always carefully managed PR. She sells this mommy homey country life with the macho cowboy husband as her brand. That’s her brand even if she and her real life are actually nothing like this. I never liked her because it’s all so fake.
She is a very rich (even before her brand) MAGA white woman playing at being a pioneer cowboy’s wife. He is just a real estate developer playing around being a cowboy. I honestly think they both get in the way of the Ranch’s actual workers.
This! I fell for it back in 2011 but quickly found out they are just like Kid Rock, wealthy posing at being salt of the earth people.
Exactly. The whole thing, from her “homeschooling” (they had tutors) to her recipes (cribbed from church cookbooks) to the ranch (subsidized by the federal government)-she’s a big fake and always have been. I used to read her blog 15 years ago-and it was annoying AF then too. Blech.
Glad somebody beat me to it: they are totally rich off of corporate welfare–government subsidies for their ranch.
“He grunts and ignores her” says it all. And I’m a vegetarian so #TeamCow
#TeamCow 😂😂😂 Love it. And the sentiment.
The grunt says it all. He completely seems like the type to be emotionally stunted and to have affairs to build up his own self esteem. I am quite sure their marriage is rocky. No one who posts how amazing their husband is all the time is happily married. It is like an inverse ratio or something: the less you say the happier in reality and the more you say how hapoy you are the less happier in reality.
Christine, lol, yes! As a college professor, I often joke with my students: “If someone repeatedly tells you that they are X or Y, they are probably neither of those things.”
It’s the same with her “honeymoon baby”. She repeats it so much that everyone knows she was knocked up before the wedding.
I choked! 😂
MerlinsDad regularly gets on my nerves and in truth some days it takes everything I have not to smother him in his sleep. We have a marriage with all the ups and downs that go with it. It’s far from perfect even after 42 years. We’re the first to admit it.
Full disclosure: I ain’t exactly easy to deal with either. I have this mouth and attitude that drives him insane. 😎
I always thought her name was Bree. They had a big maskless engagement party in Dallas last year.
It’s short for “Marie” – I think Ann Marie may be her full name?
That’s another reason I dislike her, because that’s my name and I think “Ree” is the dumbest nickname for Anne Marie I’ve ever heard. My husband and other family refer to me as “AM” for short. 😉
That is some REALLY ugly wallpaper.
I went back and looked. You are 100% correct. It’s really bad.
Im not sure about this one…I believe he is the one who has the money. He’s the one who bankrolled her entire career. He lives on a multi million dollar ranch that has been in his family for years. I really enjoy watching her show… And I love lad… He seems like a great guy, and their kids are fabulous. I don’t really see any drama here.
Exactly. His family money bought her fame. A pox on their house for unleashing her on the world. Even though I haven’t got anything positive to say about her, there’s nothing worse than a “man” who resents a more successful wife. That sexist attitude is revolting.
Yes! I remember when they got to “pick their house” from several existing homes on the “ranch” right after they were married – like – that’s not a no-money situation, lol.
If I had bankrolled my spouse and they turned out to be a big success I would be thrilled. That’s more financial security for us and the family and the farm in these changing times. But the unreformed masculine ego I guess….sigh. So glad I never married.
Ladd is a name for a dog not an adult man. lol
He and his family are stinking rich!
I’m pretty sure at the start of her biz he bankrolled it.
Guys who grow up farming or ranching and are on the family homestead never, ever quit, IMO.
My Dads relatives are 5th generation and still living/working the original family farm.
Their version of slowing down is way, way different vs. my city life. lol
God love them, they are some of the most God and Country old timers you will ever meet!
I hate those flowing tops she wears! Ugly in every direction.
She’s a racist, enough said.
How do you know? What did she do?
She wouldn’t have her “career’ as it is without him. She made bank off of marrying her “Marlboro Man.” Her money didn’t buy the ranch.
Her giveaways were great. The clothes she gave away were top dollar brands like Johnny Was. She gives away great boots every Christmas. I really wanted to win the boots or mixer. I did! In my opinion, that is how she got big. Giving away good stuff.
I also like the idea of Mustang beauty pageants.
I don’t know anything about these people, but her style and wallpapers are hideous.
Also my great uncle was a cattle rancher, he inherited the family business and did the physical work until he died at 80. For a lot of these men, it’s a lifestyle they won’t give up until they absolutely have to.
I had an ex who would do dangerous things whenever I seemed to be “focused on my career too much”. It was horrible… I wonder if there’s echoes of that vibe here? He seems like a total child.
The best thing to come out of that relationship btw was me bonding with his other exes, realising he had put us through hell and becoming friends. Female friendship, ya’ll.
Does he actually make that much money? Or is he referring to the amount he gets from
the government vs her actual income? I know the MAGA bunch like to forget how much they benefit from Government ”handouts”.