Who Is Kurt Warner’s Wife? All About Brenda Warner

Brenda Warner is Kurt Warner’s first cheerleader.

Kurt had a successful career on and off the field — from being a free agent to being named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player twice. He also won his first Super Bowl ring after leading the St. Louis Ramse to victory. In 2010, Kurt competed in the 11th season of the series Dancing with the stars and credited his wife for helping him achieve his dreams.

“One of the things I’m grateful for is that Brenda gave up her passions to let me pursue mine,” Kurt told PEOPLE in December 2021. “She had to put her career and her dreams on hold.”

In the 2021 biopic American Underdog, which documents their love story, Kurt and Brenda are played by Zachary Levi and Anna Paquin. The couple has been married since 1997 and has seven children, two of whom Kurt adopted from Brenda’s previous marriage.

As their children have grown, the Warners shared with PEOPLE that they look forward to spending more time alone as a couple.

“One crazy thing about our trip is that we’ve never been alone together since the day we met,” Kurt said. “But we’re close to being empty nesters, so we’re looking forward to being together — and just being us.”

So who is Kurt Warner’s wife? Here’s everything you need to know about Brenda Warner and her relationship with the former quarterback.

She met Kurt while 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 90’s. She was four years older than him, and then 21-year-old Kurt was a student at the University of Northern Iowa, where he played linebacker and had dreams of playing in the NFL.

Brenda told PEOPLE in 2021 that she wasn’t looking for love at the time — she was recently divorced — and only started dancing because her mom, who enjoyed dancing herself, encouraged her to get out of the house.

“Time, fate, whatever you want to say, that dance ends with us in partnership,” Kurt added. “I asked her to keep dancing and that’s how the whole thing actually started, a chance meeting where she didn’t want to go out, I didn’t want to, someone made us go out and it all came from that.”

He has two children from a previous marriage

Brenda Warner’s 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 severe brain damage. Brenda was discharged from the Marine Corps due to hardship in order to care for Zachary.

“In the world we live in, accidents happen,” Brenda said Resurrected 2018. “God is going to give me the strength to raise this boy. Now? I actually feel like I got a miracle. It just didn’t seem like the same miracle I was looking for, that Zack was going to make a full recovery. But my son is a living miracle. He’s changing lives , as I want all my children to do. He is making a difference in this world, even if he lives with a disability.”

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 wasn’t on Brenda’s radar when she first met Kurt.

“I didn’t want to meet a man,” she told PEOPLE in 2021. “I was going to nursing school. I was discharged from the Marines, a single mom on food stamps. It was a difficult time in my life.”

However, Kurt asked a mutual friend for Brenda’s address and went to her house the day after they met. Then she introduced him to three-year-old Zack.

“When I came out and he was wrestling on the floor with Zack, the way he looked at my son with pure love, no judgment, no expectations, just loving him, that’s all I needed,” Brenda said. “He fell in love with my kids before he fell in love with me. That’s when I knew he was worth being in our lives, our love.”

She married Kurt in 1997

Brenda and Kurt were married on October 11, 1997 at St. John’s American Lutheran Church. John in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Their choice of venue was sentimental – it was the same church where Brenda’s parents were married, who died in a tornado the year before.

They were joined by friends and family, and in 2021, Brenda shared a video of a young Zack singing Tracy Byrd’s “The Keeper of the Stars” to Kurt at their wedding.

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 completely,” Brenda wrote on Instagram. In another anniversary 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 got married, Kurt adopted Zack and Jesse Jo. The couple had five more children: Kade, Jada Jo, Elijah Storm and twins Sierra Rose and Sienna Rae. The couple also has two grandchildren.

Brenda shared photos of her family in attendance on Instagram American Underdog premiering in December 2021, celebrating Elijah’s graduation in May 2022 and competing in Celebrity Family Feud in August 2022, among other family activities.

“My family. A beautiful mess. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️,” Brenda once captioned a family portrait with Kurt, along with all their children and grandchildren.

He makes jewelry

Brenda Warner’s Instagram

Brenda is passionate about metal art and took up the craft later in life.

“When I was about to turn 50, my mom was killed at the age of 50, so it was really hard for me to think that there was no more time than that,” she told PEOPLE in 2021. “And I thought, ‘What would I do if I didn’t care what others thought?’ I realized that I had always loved metal. I loved metal art without having a clue how to do it.”

She continued, “I went and watched someone weld, went and bought all the equipment, and went home and taught myself. I love sharing that with people. It’s something I didn’t know existed until this later part of my life.”

Her Instagram account, MetalArt By B, is dedicated to her creations, which she also sells.

She 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 Treasure House’s board of directors and often raise funds for the organization, using proceeds from its metal art.

“With Zack’s inspiration, 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,” according to the Treasure House website.

Brenda also gave some insight into why she and Kurt are advocates for the cause.

“These 29 tenants can put their things 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 who deserves to be seen, who deserves to be heard about, who deserves to be enjoyed and who deserves a fulfilling life.”

She continued to work American Underdog with Kurt

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While American Underdog primarily follows her husband’s football career, Brenda — played by Paquin — has a prominent role. Both Brenda and Kurt played a role in getting the film off the ground as executive producers.

“We’ve been working on the project for about 10 years,” Kurt said Forbes in December 2021, on the eve of the film’s release.

Brenda explained that the relationship between Kurt and their children was the most important aspect of their lives to get the film right.

“When Kurt met [Zack] … it was the first time I didn’t have to explain his disability. It really shocked me, but it also endeared me because there’s something special about this guy, so it was important that they did that for me.”

Levi, who plays Kurt in the film, told PEOPLE in 2021 that he was “dying to get as many rights as possible.”

“I did as much of that football stuff as I could to the best of my ability, which made me feel good,” the actor said.

The two leads also got a chance to meet and bond with the couple.

“Now I have an amazing, really cool friend named Brenda that I will keep forever,” Paquin told PEOPLE. “[The Warners] are even more beautiful and amazing in real life. And that sounds funny because they’re amazing on paper.”

She wrote a memoir about her family

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In 2011, Brenda published her memoirs One call away: meet life’s challenges with unwavering faithin which he talks about his family, marriage and religion.

Brenda marked the release of her book eight years later.

“My memoir was published 8 years ago, my version of my life with the good, the bad and the ugly,” she chirped in May 2019. “I still get messages from people today about how it affected their lives. I’m grateful for that.”

Brenda and Kurt were previously co-writers for 2009 The New York Times best seller First things first: Warning ruleswhere they talked about raising children, their relationship, origins and much more.

Brenda was also booked as a public speaker at the 2011 Women of Faith conference, trans The Oklahoman.

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Source: HIS Education