[Music]
thomas rhett and lauren aikens are
redefining what it means to be a country
music couple
here are some things you may not know
about this adorable pair
retin akin's love story began in the
first grade the future love birds are in
the same class at good pasture christian
school in madison tennessee birthday
kins didn't really notice her future
hobby
until the third grade when he gave a
memorable turn in a school production
in her 2020 memoir live in love growing
together through life's changes
she revealed he played the lead in the
school christmas play a christmas carol
rep played scrooge and he was great the
pair started going to the same church
camp in sixth grade and that's when
rhett began to develop romantic feelings
for aikens in 2016 he told the
tennessean she was just like the
all-american friendliest
nicest she was tall blonde beautiful
pretty much the total package for any
dude from 6th grade all the way through
high school
i'm pretty sure every guy had a crush on
her unfortunately for rhett the feelings
were mutual back then
according to akin's memoir when red
plugged up the courage to ask his dream
girl to the end of summer banquet
it turned into quote the most degrading
moment of his life
akins told her future husband at the
time oh i'm waiting on someone else to
ask me
according to akins she and red to become
good friends by the time they reached
the ninth grade
the future singer songwriter still
hadn't gotten over her however and he
was determined to get out of the friend
zone he decided to make his move when
the two were messing around on a
trampoline in his backyard one day
and it went terribly wrong when rhett
leaned in to plan to kiss on his guest
the shift in weight led to a nasty
collision akins revealed in her book
we slammed our teeth into each other it
was bad rotten akin's actual first kiss
took place a couple of weeks later
while she admitted that she was a little
weirded out by the idea of locking lips
with her longtime pal
the awkwardness quickly faded she
explained it turns out that he was a
pretty good kisser suddenly it all felt
really right
the pair began dating and rhett started
to bring out akin's wild side she
admitted he would not only be
responsible for giving me my first sip
of beer but my first
chew my first dip and my first cigarette
neither of us smoke now but i swear
rhett could talk me into doing just
about anything
good or bad and honestly it's still the
same today
the first major bump in the road for
retin akins came during spring break one
year the pair enjoyed a trip to key west
with friends when rets apparently
started to get a little uptight about
aiken's hanging out with other guys
aikens revealed in her book
his jealousy and possessiveness kept
showing itself again
and again he wanted to be with me all
the time this behavior would ultimately
push akins away from her future husband
and straight into the open arms of
another boy when he sat down for his
2016 tennessean interview
retro revealed the exact moment he knew
that things were over between them
saying mitch barnes invited her to
junior senior banquet
and that was the turning point i was
crushed at this point aikens had decided
that the two were better off remaining
friends
and things would stay that way for some
time they both entered into committed
relationships with other people
however retro never fell out of love
with aikens and there's a famous photo
of the young singer looking longingly at
her as she poses for a snap with a date
when they reunited for a graduation
party in 2011
red confided to akin's dad that he still
loved her and her father gave rhett the
push that he needed saying
if you don't tell her how you feel
tonight i'm gonna tell her myself i
remember
telling her that i loved her since i was
i was 15 years old the pair got back
together that night and just six months
later they were engaged to be married
the singer-songwriter spilled the beans
about how he managed to win akins back
when he spoke to taste of country in
september 2012. he explained when i
heard that she had ended her other
relationship
this was last spring i moved in for the
kill we kissed and that was it
we dated for probably six months and we
got engaged last december around
christmas time
festive engagements are always memorable
but rhett made sure that his proposal
was extra special and he did that by
bringing akin's mom into play
red told the music mag that their
families all went to a restaurant
explaining that he and akins are quote
big on drinking wine and signing the
bottles with a silver sharpie
then dating and saving the bottles in
keeping with their quirky tradition
rhett escorted akins to a private room
in the restaurant where there was a
single bottle of wine waiting he
explained
i pulled out a sharpie and put marry me
on the bottle her mom cued the way you
looked tonight by frank sinatra and we
danced it was pretty awesome
not long after the hawaiian honeymoon
red started to become a big star in the
country music scene for aikens this was
both a blessing and a curse in her
illuminating tell-all she said i loved
this man with everything in me
and his dreams are all coming true but
wouldn't you know it right there in the
middle of all that excitement and
celebration a familiar question came
bubbling up in my mind
a question i've been struggling with for
at least a couple years i looked around
the glittering lights and i wondered
what about my dreams akins was training
to be a nurse at the time
and following her husband around the
country on exhausting tours wasn't
exactly helping with her studies
in her book she revealed that it all
came to a head one day in a church
parking lot she told her husband that
she wasn't sure how much longer she
could keep it up and that put things
into perspective for rhett
he said of the incident why was on the
verge of calling my manager and telling
her i quit
i was like if every weekend off the road
is going to be sitting in this parking
lot
and having this conversation it ain't
worth it i'll go do something different
luckily for country music fans
everywhere akins told him that wasn't an
option
aikens eventually became a registered
nurse's plant and she's put her training
to use in some of the most in-need parts
of the world
in 2016 she set off for uganda on a
volunteer trip unaware of the fact that
she was on her way to meet her first
daughter
aikens worked closely with orphan
children on her trip to the african
country and there was one child in need
of a home who stole her heart
on the kelly clarkson show she admitted
i was so moved the second i touched her
it was electric i was like oh my word
this little girl has just taken my hat
when she spoke to red later that night
she told him that she was determined to
find the girl a forever home in the
united states
i was telling him her story and i was
like hey we know so many people
who are trying to adopt right now but
she didn't expect her husband to suggest
making their own home that forever home
aiken's recording her book with no
hesitation rhett said
we'll do it we'll bring her home it will
take months to get the paperwork sorted
but the girl who had been going by the
name blessing would eventually arrive in
america retin akins decided to call her
willa gray
named after some of their family members
i wanted a name that was really strong
and something that
that empowered her bretton aiken's
adoption of willa gray took longer than
expected because uganda changed some
laws while they were there in the middle
of the process
aikens went back and forth between the
u.s and africa on several occasions
or they hammered out the details and on
one of those trips she fell ill
she told people magazine i was convinced
it was food poisoning i was 100
sure i was not pregnant but she was
pregnant a fact that she discovered
right in the middle of a safari ride
akins explained in her book
i wanted to tell her family so bad but
we decided to make it a big surprise
we wrapped a whole bunch of baby
announcements and put them under the
christmas tree so our whole family could
open them all at once rett and akins
didn't reveal that they were pregnant in
public until february 2017
when the double mom-to-be broke the
happy news in a sweet instagram post
she wrote in the caption our hearts are
exploding with happiness for y'all to
meet our new baby who we are bringing
home from africa soon who is also going
to have a little brother or sister
because
surprise there's a sweet baby in my
belly too little later james joined the
family exactly three months after
willa's adoption was finally approved
tuck one in read good night moon to
another and then potentially walk on
stage with pee on your finger
the couple welcomed the news that their
first biological child was on the way
but for aikens being pregnant while
adopting wasn't a walk in the park
she was left in charge of the process
while rhett concentrated on his career
and they quickly began to drift apart
during a 2020 appearance on the bobby
bone show the singer-songwriter admitted
that he was quote
a bit jerky to his wife at the time he
said lauren called me because it was
nine o'clock in the morning in uganda
and she hears all of her friends in the
background meanwhile lauren is seven
months pregnant and throwing up in the
bathroom in uganda
akins told red that they were living two
completely separate lives but their rift
continued to widen
according to aiken's memoir a fight
broke out after the pair got a few
deliveries
some gucci shoes arrived for rhett while
aiken's got some disinfecting wipes
and she told her husband i think i hate
you the result was a quick call to their
marriage counselor he ended up spending
two full days hashing things out and it
worked
in august 2020 aikens told people
magazine
we still are staying in close contact
with our counselor beth there's a lot of
pressure to portray that you have a
perfect life and family and marriage
especially on social media and in the
public eye
akin's second pregnancy didn't go quite
as smoothly as her first
the blonde mama told country living that
she felt quote so much more pregnant
but she welcomed the third daughter
lenin love with no complications in
february 2020.
her proud husband took to instagram to
share the happy news with over 4 million
followers writing
it was such a joy to watch this little
angel be brought into the world
my wife is just incredible through the
entire birth watching our kids meet
lelon for the first time was probably
the sweetest thing i've ever seen in my
whole life
ada james and willa grey are going to be
the best big sisters on the planet
red went on to ask fans to pray for him
and aikens as they quote switch from man
on man defense to zone
using a basketball comparison to
acknowledge the challenges that lie
ahead
three kids can be more than a handful so
they're going to stop there right
not necessarily in a memoir aikens
revealed that they haven't ruled out
adopting again sometime in the future
she explained
we're both in a place where we love our
little family so much we keep thinking
how much more love would we be able to
give if our family was just a little bit
bigger
but that's a conversation for another
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