Tim McGraw is looking back on his journey with wife Faith Hill as the couple celebrates their 29th wedding anniversary.
To mark the occasion on Monday, Oct. 6, the “Live Like You Were Dying” singer, 58, shared a touching tribute to Hill, also 58, on Instagram. Alongside a photo of the pair leaning in for a kiss, McGraw wrote: “29 years ago, on this day Oct 6 1996, I was on cloud 9! I was marrying the girl of my dreams, she was everything, my complete soulmate!”
He then reflected on the life they’ve shared together as he acknowledged Hill’s steadfast love and support.
“We have been through so much together, our girls growing up, me trying to grow up, and you, you, you, always there, always there for all of us when we fell, always you when we triumphed, always you,” he wrote.
Added McGraw: “When we love, when we live, when we think of how to love, live and dream, always you. You are my girl, I love you with a fire that grows each passing year.”
The country music stars tied the knot on Oct. 6, 1996. They went on to welcome three daughters: Gracie, 28, Maggie, 27, and Audrey, 23.
Over the years, McGraw has been candid about how Hill played a pivotal role in his sobriety journey, which began in 2008. Speaking with Esquire in 2021, he shared that one morning he was “getting out of [bed] and going to the liquor cabinet and taking a big shot at 8:00 in the morning and thinking, ‘I have to wake the kids up.’ “
He went straight to Hill and said, “This is where I’m at.” He recalled: “I was scared. She just grabbed me and hugged me and changed my life.”
McGraw credited the “Breathe” singer with helping him stay strong as he got sober.
“My wife always says, ‘You’re not scared of anything.’ I say, ‘Ehhh, one thing. I’m looking at it right now,’ ” he said. “I didn’t know love could feel so good. Was it an emotion? Was it a lifestyle? Was it an imaginary thing? But love is all of those things.”
In 2021, when the couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, McGraw reminisced about their engagement in a video on X, calling it “the best day of my life” and revealing that it took him a “few times” to convince Hill to accept his proposal.
“We had dated for a while. I actually asked her to marry me quite a few times, and she kept saying no. She said, ‘I’m not going to get involved with another country singer, it’s just not going to work out.’ “
McGraw decided to propose to Hill onstage during a country music festival, hoping it would spur her to say “yes.”
“They had these trailer houses set up. I’m getting ready to go onstage, and I had this sort of case that had this big mirror in it. She’s standing there, and we’re talking, and I said, ‘Look, let’s get married,’ ” he recounted. “And she says, ‘You’re asking me to marry you at a country music festival in a trailer house?’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s pretty apropos if you think about it.’ She goes, ‘Are you serious?’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah, I’m serious.’ “
When he returned to the dressing room, he got his answer. Faith had written a message on the mirror, accepting his proposal. “And we still have that mirror. And it was the best day of my life, that’s for sure,” McGraw said.
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