Happy anniversary to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood! The couple married on December 10, 2005, in a private ceremony at their home in Oklahoma, after Brooks proposed to Yearwood during a performance at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California.

Brooks was married (to Sandy Mahl), when he and Yearwood first met, when they were both hired as session singers for a demo.

“I remember everything about it. I remember everything down to the clothes she was wearing.” Brooks previously shared, during the Garth Brooks: The Road I’m On documentary, which aired in 2019 on A&E.

When Blazy asked Brooks what he thought about Yearwood, Brooks replied, “It’s crazy, but I feel like I just met my wife.”

When Yearwood married Brooks, she became a stepmom to his three children from his first marriage, although the three girls, now grown, preferred the term “bonus mom.”

“I had the privilege, the amazing privilege to grow up and watch my dad fall in love with this amazing woman and have this amazing relationship,” Brooks’ youngest daughter, Allie Colleen, told Everything Nash. “We got married; my bonus mom and I, and my sisters exchanged rings when my parents got married, all that kind of stuff. It was such a beautiful relationship to grow up watching.”

 

Yearwood having a hand in shaping the lives of Brooks’ three daughters was a gift she didn’t know she wanted, until it was handed to her when they tied the knot.

“It was a gift that I received from Garth and the girls of having them in my life that I didn’t even know I was missing,” Yearwood told SheKnows. “I can’t imagine my life without them … When you don’t have children, you have the luxury of being selfish, because it’s just about you. You don’t have to think about somebody else first. And as an artist, it’s easy to be really egocentric because your job is to be thinking about your career, what you have to do next, how you’re going to take yourself to the next level. So to get out of that space and to realize that it doesn’t matter what I have going on, it was a real lesson for me.”

In the 19 years since the couple said “I do,” they have both worked hard to prioritize each other, sometimes at the expense of their own careers.

“We got married almost 18 years ago to be together, to not be apart,” Yearwood said in 2023 (via WSMV). “So, whoever’s touring the other one is there, whether they’re on stage or not. So, we work together all the time.”

The two might be married for almost two decades, but they likely have a very long future ahead of them, thanks to the care and intentionality they put into their relationship.

“Our marriage is a great love but also a great friendship,” Yearwood told Parade. “We laugh a lot and there’s a lot of mutual respect. He is kind of perfect. He’s neater than I am. His closet looks way better than mine. He’s always been respectful. My only pet peeve is that he whistles—all the time.”

Brooks and Yearwood might have been married for almost two decades, but the Country Music Hall of Fame member still calls her “Miss Yearwood,” for one very good reason.

“She’s Miss Yearwood because Jack Yearwood had two daughters, Beth and Trisha,” Brooks told Access Hollywood. “Jack Yearwood was a great, great man. And so, when Miss Yearwood and I were getting married, she says, ‘What do we do about the last name?’ And I said, ‘Yearwood forever, for me.’ And so, I love calling her Miss Yearwood because it reminds me of Jack.”

Brooks and Yearwood entered into a new business venture this year, when they opened their Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky Tonk, although she wasn’t initially a fan of the idea.

“My first response when Garth suggested this idea was no. I’ve not dreamed of owning a bar,” Yearwood told Eater Nashville. “But you go downtown, you see all these bars by all these country artists, and I can’t imagine there not being something that represents Garth Brooks in this town … You can’t have a Garth Brooks bar and not have Trisha food in it.”

One thing is certain: Brooks is still as smitten with Yearwood as he was in the beginning of their relationship, maybe more.

“Well, we’ll talk about how great of a singer she is,” Brooks said on The Kelly Clarkson Show, also calling her one of the “greatest cooks on the planet.” “That’s probably five and six on her list of top ten things to do. When it comes to the future, I think what you’re just grateful for is just one more day of getting to do this. So I think that’s it.”

Find five of Brooks and Yearwood’s best duets here.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock