Arguably the most popular country music couple of all time, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have been married for more than 27 years. Tim said in a recent interview with Apple Music that his life would have looked very different if he had not married Faith.
McGraw revealed that he owes much of his success and survival to his marriage with Faith Hill and the 56-year-old reflected on how his life might have taken a drastically different turn if it weren’t for Faith’s influence.
He candidly admitted to host Zane Lowe during an interview, “I guarantee you, had I not gotten married to Faith at 29-years-old, A, I probably would’ve ran my career into the ground, and B, I would’ve died already with my career into the ground, one or the other, and it wouldn’t have ever been where it’s at now.”
Tim McGraw’s Struggles With Alcoholism
Tim opened up about his personal struggles, including his battles with alcoholism that lasted until he decided to go sober in 2008. He added that Faith put up with his “wild years” for a long time before she finally made him choose between her and the kids or his drinking.
Tim humorously confessed, “I was pretty sneaky about it for a while.” However, Faith’s patience reached its limit when their children grew old enough to notice his drinking problem. Given the ultimatum, he decided to choose family first and give up the drinking which led to a healthier lifestyle and a brighter future.
“Well, I don’t know if the maturity’s occurred yet, but she put up with it for a while because I was pretty sneaky about it for a while,” he said with a laugh. “But I was just overdoing stuff, and then I think when the kids got old enough that they could notice things is when she finally said, ‘You’ve got to figure this out.'”
Tim posted a short clip of the interview to Facebook where he then went on to talk about his new song “Standing Room Only” and what it’s like creating a new song these days. Watch his video clip of the interview below and then keep on reading for more about Tim and Faith!
The McGraw’s Family Life
During the interview, Tim also talked about what the conversations are like when he and Faith are in the process of creating a new song or an album. Tim specifically spoke about how “brutal” and honest” she can be and their differing ideas about how a song or album will turn out.
“I’m always playing her the songs that I want to record and playing the mixes as I’ll go along, and there’s times we don’t agree. There’s times where she goes, ‘I don’t like the way that sounds.’ ‘Well, I do, and that’s way it’s going to stay.’ And the same thing when she’s making a record. It’s like, ‘I think this should be your single.’ She goes, ‘No, I don’t like that song. This is going to be the single.’ I go, ‘All right,'” Tim told Apple Music host Zane Lowe. “She’s right about her stuff and I’m usually right about my stuff, but most of the time we agree,” he added.
Over the music they create, Tim said that he and Faith have always put their family first over their careers. When they both got married at 29 years of age, they decided even though they were both independently successful, they were not going to let anything stand between having a healthy family life.
He elaborated by saying, “Our kids traveled with us until school started and when school started, we didn’t work when school was going on, for the most part. I coached softball, I coached basketball, we did tailgate parties for the cheerleaders at all the football games, we lived our life just like everybody else. We were Mr. and Ms. McGraw when showing up. We had 15 teenage girls at our house all the time, we’re cooking for them, and they’re singing and playing music and hanging out by the pool.”
MORE: Tim McGraw Wants To Collab With His Daughters, But They Turned Him Down
Tim’s New Album, “Standing Room Only”
Tim released his 17th studio album on Friday (Aug 25), “Standing Room Only,” and his passion for creating new music remains as strong as ever. He labeled the upcoming project as “some of the most emotional, thought-provoking, and life-affirming music I’ve ever recorded.”
Additionally, fans can look forward to catching him live on the road for his Standing Room Only Tour coming in 2024 starting on March 14. In the meantime, go ahead now and watch the full interview video below with Tim McGraw and Apple Music’s Zane Lowe!