Thomas Rhett is already mourning the day when his daughters no longer live at home. The 34-year-old and his wife, Lauren Akins, are the proud parents of four girls, including their oldest daughter, Willa Gray, who will turn nine later this year, meaning she is already halfway to being an adult.
“When you see it on paper, it’s terrifying because that means as many years that I’ve been a dad is as many years I have left with her in my house, which is crazy,” Rhett says on Audacy’s Katie & Company.
“I saw the trend online of a dad being like, ‘They’re not going to want you to tuck them in one day [or] scream ‘I love you’ out the window when they walk into school,'” he continues. “I freaking wept like a baby when I saw that. Time is really moving by so fast and I feel like the busier you get with school, sports and career, every year keeps going faster and faster.”
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Rhett is also a doting father to Ada James, who just turned seven, four-year-old Lennon Love, and Lillie Carolina, who will turn three in November.
Willa Gray was born in Uganda, which is where Rhett and Akins adopted her from when she was just 18 months old. Akins was pregnant with Ada James, when Willa Gray officially became theirs, just as Rhett’s career was beginning to take off. It was a joyful, yet deeply challenging, time in their marriage.
“We were becoming famous at arguably the hardest moment in our personal lives,” Rhett recalls to Us Weekly. “Adopting [Willa Gray] and getting pregnant at the same time while having to be in Uganda for a year with me traveling back and forth was so challenging. I’d go to Uganda and be husband and dad, and then go to America and be like, ‘Okay, shows and music.’ I was internally imploding, and so was Lauren. We’d both come to these breaking points [feeling like] something has to give. It was not a fun time in our marriage.”
Rhett’s latest album, About A Woman, is out now. The 14-track record is all in celebration of Akins, and their shared history, which goes back to when they met in elementary school, through their marriage in 2012, and to present day.
“The content is very familiar because it’s all coming from my memories with my wife, whether it was from younger years to high school to now to future thinking about my marriage and all those kinds of things,” Rhett tells American Songwriter. “I think my mission for this project was joy, smiling, and dancing. For the most part, it is mission accomplished.”
Rhett recently announced his own Thomas Rhett: Live in Las Vegas residency, which will take place December 6, 7, 13 and 14 at BleauLive Theater inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas, during National Finals Rodeo week.
“For me, having the chance to set up in Vegas for a string of shows is something I’ve been trying to find the right time to do for a while now,” Rhett says of the Vegas shows. “It gives us the chance to be back in smaller rooms – for almost a mini-residency – and really be right there to play off the fans and be sure every single one of them is on their feet each night. I’m already looking forward to making these shows unlike any we’ve ever done before. It’s going to be a blast.”
Find About A Woman and all of Rhett’s music and upcoming shows, including his Live in Vegas dates, at ThomasRhett.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the ACM