AceShowbiz - LeAnn Rimes was "almost intimidated" by Eddie Cibrian's good looks when they first met. Meeting her now-husband in 2009 when they worked on movie "Northern Lights" together, the 40-year-old pop star recalled how many of her pals were envious when they found out they would be working together.

"I remember when I found out I was doing this film with Eddie, all of my gay friends were like, 'Oh my God, he's so hot.' He's pretty reserved until you get to know him, but he is so ridiculously good-looking it's almost intimidating," she said.

However, the "Can't Fight the Moonlight" hitmaker went on to explain that she and Eddie have given each other the "space to grow" since they tied the knot in 2011 and she has learned that you can "move apart" and "move together" in a marriage.

She said, "I was very co-dependent throughout my life until my early 30s but the more I started loving myself and stopped looking outside for validation, the more solid our relationship became because we were both given space to grow equally."

"[I've learnt] that you move apart, you move together, and that expansion and contradiction is just a moment in time. It's about learning to dance with the relationship dynamics. I've also learned to not always blame the other person and instead ask, ‘OK, what is it that I need to look at in myself?' "

LeAnn added that her stepsons Mason, 19, and 15-year-old Jake - whose mother is former "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Brandi Glanville - have grown up in a "safe" place because she herself had such an "abnormal" childhood.

She said, "I think what I gift people in my life, whether it's friends or kids, is what I didn't have as a child - and that's safety and unconditional love. I'd love to create an environment where they can mess up without crazy repercussions, get curious and try different things."

"That's just not the environment that I grew up in. I've been around since the kids were two and six, and I've loved being able to support them in any way I can."