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Brenda WarnerisKurt Warner’s No. 1 cheerleader.
Kurt has had a successful career both on and off the field — going from a free agent to being twice crowned theNFL’s Most Valuable Player. He also won his firstSuper Bowlring after leading the St. Louis Rams to victory in 2000. In 2010, Kurtcompeted on season 11ofDancing with the Starsand credited his wife for helping him achieve his dreams.
“One of the things I’m grateful for is thatBrenda gave up her passionsto allow me to chase mine,” Kurt told PEOPLE in December 2021. “She had to put her career and her dreams on hold.”
As their children have gotten older, the Warners shared with PEOPLE that they are looking forward to more alone time as a couple.
“One crazy thing about our journey is that we’ve never been alone together from the day we met,” Kurt said. “But we’re close to being empty nesters, so we’re looking forward to when we get to be together — and just be us.”
So, who is Kurt Warner’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Brenda Warner and her relationship with the former quarterback.
She met Kurt while line dancing
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Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Brenda grew up on a farm in Iowa and later met Kurt while line dancing at a country western bar in northern Iowa in the early ’90s. She was four years his senior, and the then-21-year-old Kurt was a student at the University of Northern Iowa, where he played quarterback and harbored dreams of playing in the NFL.
Brenda told PEOPLE in 2021 that she wasn’t looking for love at the time — she had recently gotten divorced — and had only started line dancing because her mom, who enjoyed line dancing herself, encouraged her to get out of the house.
“Timing, fate, whatever you want to say, that dance ends with us partnered up,” Kurt added. “I asked her to keep dancing, and that’s really how this whole thing started, a chance meeting when she didn’t want to go out, I didn’t want to, and somebody forced us to go out, and all of this came from it.”
She has two children from a previous marriage
Brenda Warner Instagram
Before meeting Kurt, Brenda was married to a fellow Marine, with whom she had two children: Zachary and Jesse Jo.
In 1989, when Zachary was 4 months old, her then-husband accidentally dropped their son in the bathtub, leaving him blind and with a serious brain injury. Brenda took a hardship discharge from the Marines to care for Zachary.
“The world we live in, accidents happen,” BrendatoldRisenin 2018. “God’s going to give me the strength to raise this boy. Now? I actually feel like I did get a miracle. It just didn’t look like the same miracle I had asked for, that Zack would be completely healed. But my son is a living miracle. He’s changing lives, like I want all my kids to do. He’s making a difference in this world, even if he’s living with disabilities.”
Brenda and her first husband eventually divorced.
She knew Kurt was “worthy” of her love after he met her son
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A relationship was not on Brenda’s radar when she first met Kurt.
“I did not want to meet a man,” she told PEOPLE in 2021. “I was going to nursing school. I was discharged from the Marine Corps, a single mom on food stamps. It was a tough time in my life.”
However, Kurt asked a mutual friend for Brenda’s address and went to her house the day after they met. She then introduced him to a 3-year-old Zack.
“When I walked out, and he was wrestling on the floor with Zack, the way he looked at my son with pure love, no judgment, no expectation, just loved him, that’s all it took for me,” Brenda said. “He fell in love with my kids before he fell in love with me. That’s when I knew he was worthy of being in our lives, of our love.”
She married Kurt in 1997
Brenda and Kurt married on Oct. 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Their choice of venue was sentimental — it was the same church where Brenda’s parents, who died a year prior in a tornado, were married.
In October 2023, the couple celebrated 26 years of marriage.
“If I had to choose again I would still choose you. He sees me completely and loves me fully,” Brenda wrote onInstagram. In anotheranniversary post, she added: “26 years of marriage looks older, feels better, walks slower and naps regularly, together.”
She has five more children with Kurt
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After Brenda and Kurt tied the knot, Kurt adopted Zack and Jesse Jo. The couple went on to have five more children: Kade, Jada Jo, Elijah Storm andtwins Sierra Rose and Sienna Rae. The couple also has two grandchildren.
Brenda has shared photos on Instagram of her familyattending theAmerican Underdogpremierein December 2021,celebrating Elijah’s graduationin May 2022 andcompeting onCelebrity Family Feudin August 2022, among other family activities.
“My family. A beautiful mess. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️,” Brenda oncecaptioned a family portrait with Kurt, along with all their children and grandchildren.
She makes jewelry
Brenda is passionate about metal art and took up the craft later in life.
“When I was getting ready to turn 50, my mom was killed at 50 years old, and so it was just so heavy on me thinking she didn’t get any more time than that,” she told PEOPLE in 2021. “And I thought, ‘What would I do if I didn’t care what anybody thought?’ I realized that I always loved metal. I loved metal art, not having a clue how to make it.”
She continued, “I went and watched somebody weld, went and bought all the equipment, and went home and taught myself. I love sharing it with people. It’s something that I didn’t know existed until this later part in my life.”
Her Instagram account,MetalArt By B,is devoted to her creations that she also sells.
She co-founded Treasure House Phoenix with Kurt
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In August 2018, Brenda and Kurt opened Treasure House Phoenix — an active living community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Brenda and Kurt sit on the board of Treasure House and frequently fundraise for the organization, using the proceeds from her metal art.
“With inspiration from Zack, they envisioned a community where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities could come together to overcome perceived challenges, develop meaningful relationships and contribute their gifts to society,“reads the Treasure House website.
Brenda also gave insight into why she and Kurt champion the cause.
“These 29 residents can put their stuff in their apartments and invite a friend over for a Coke; they can wake up and say I’m going to work; they can say ‘do you want to dance tonight?’ " she said at a fundraising event. “I am the mother of a child that deserves to be seen, deserves to be heard, deserves to be enjoyed and deserves a full life.”
She worked onAmerican Underdogwith Kurt
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“We’ve been working on the project for about 10 years,” KurttoldForbesin December 2021, ahead of the film’s release.
Brenda explained that the relationship between Kurt and their children was the most important aspect of their lives for the movie to get right.
“When Kurt met [Zack] … it was the first time I didn’t have to explain his disability. It just really kind of shocked me, but it also endeared me because there’s something special about this guy, so that was important that they got that right for me.”
Levi, who plays Kurt in the film, told PEOPLE in 2021 that he “was dying to get as much right as” possible.
“I nailed as much of that football stuff as I could to the best of my ability, which I felt good about,” the actor said.
The two leads also had the chance to meet and connect with the couple.
“I now have this amazing, really cool friend named Brenda who I get to keep forever,” Paquin told PEOPLE. “[The Warners] are even nicer and more amazing in real life. And that sounds ridiculous because they’re amazing on paper.”
She wrote a memoir about her family
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In 2011, Brenda published her memoirOne Call Away: Answering Life’s Challenges with Unshakable Faith, in which she discusses her family, marriage and faith.
Brenda commemorated the release of her book eight years later.
“My memoir was published 8 years ago, my version of my life with my good, bad and ugly,“she tweetedin May 2019. “Still today I get messages from people of how it impacted their life. For that I am grateful.”
Brenda and Kurt previously co-wrote the 2009New York Timesbest sellerFirst Things First: The Rules of Being a Warner, where they talked about raising kids, their relationship, background and much more.
Brenda was also booked as a public speaker for theWomen of Faith conferencein 2011, perThe Oklahoman.
She and Kurt attended the 2024 NFL Honors
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In February 2024, the couple attended theNFL Honorsin Las Vegas. Brenda dazzled in a blue sequin gown, while Kurt complemented his wife in a two-toned blue suit.
source: people.com
