Tamara Gilmer gained fame simply because of her marriage to famous American singer and songwriter, Rory Feek. The couple’s marriage only lasted long enough to produce 2 kids before they parted ways in divorce 7 years after they walked down the aisle. Since the marriage ended, Tamara has continued to maintain a very private life, so much that information about her is almost none existent in the public domain. Nonetheless, we have gathered all there is to know about Rory Feek’s ex-wife.
Interesting Facts You Want To Know About Tamara Gilmer
1. She was born in the United States
It is known that Tamara was born and brought up in the United States, however, information as regards her date of birth, family members, and childhood have all remained hidden from the public domain. She would later come to be known thanks to her marriage to Rory Feek in 1985.
2. She is a mother of two kids
Before the marriage came to an end, Tamara and Rory Feek had two children, Hopie Feek and Heidi Feek. While Hopie Feek was born on September 13, 1988, the older of the two, Heidi was born on 3 October 1986 and she has since followed in the footsteps of her father by becoming a singer.
The two girls were brought up by their father and there is no sign that they have any relationship with their mother since they have not made any mention of their mother on social media or in any public space. On the contrary, they always share childhood photos of themselves with their father.
Her daughter, Heidi has since come out as gay and in October 2018, she got married to her fiancée Wendy. Although her father and sister later came around to accept her, it was initially very hard for her father who was a conservative Christian.
3. How her marriage ended in divorce
In 1992, six years after they got married, Rory Feek and Tamara’s marriage ended in divorce. The main reason behind the failure of the marriage was never revealed, and it was never made clear if she remained a part of his life since they went their separate ways.
What is known is that at the time the marriage ended, Rory was still not as famous as he is today. Although he has always had dreams of becoming a musician and he had been playing the guitar since he was 15 years old, Rory’s career took a start properly in 1996 four years after his divorce. For the first few years, he was known as a songwriter, but he later became a singer also.
4. Is she really dead?
There was an obituary announcement on tributearchive.com where it was reported that a woman whose name was Tamara Gilmer died on 20th October 2015. This had got many people wondering if it was, the former wife of Rory Feek that had died. However, it soon became clear that it was just the names that were the same but the dead woman was someone entirely different.
With that said, Gilmer is very much alive and she still lives in the United States.
5. Has Tamara Gilmer got married again?
Since her union ended with Rory, Tamara has gone under the radar and has remained there ever since. Hence it is not known if she has made any attempt at getting married again.
Rory, on the other hand, got married 10 years after his first marriage came to an end. He married fellow country singer Joey Marie Feek in 2002. They had their daughter Indiana Feek in 2014. Unfortunately, Joey lost her life to cancer in 2016.
The pair did not only start their family, but they also later started a career together when they formed the music group, Joey + Rory under which they released the following albums:
- The Life of a Song (2008)
- Album Number 2 (2010)
- His and Hers (2012)
- Inspired: Songs of Faith & Family (2013)
- Made to Last (2013)
- Country Classics: A Tapestry of Our Musical Heritage (2014)
- Hymns That Are Important To Us (2016)
The group ended won many a few awards including a Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album – Hymns That Are Important to Us which was sadly won after the death of Joey in 2017. Other awards that Joey + Rory either won or was nominated for include the Academy of Country Music Awards which was won in 2010 and the Inspirational Country Music Awards in 2011. The group was nominated for awards such as the Country Music Association Awards and another Grammy Award.
