Garth Brooks Says He Was 'Living With 3 Strange Women' Following His Divorce

Garth Brooks is promoting his new two-part documentary, The Road I’m On, and as part of that he's opening up about personal stories from his past. Specifically, he talked in New York during a Q&A about his divorce from his first wife, Sandy Mahl, in 2000. In 2001, he took a break from the music business altogether despite being in his prime.

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"I just said goodbye to music, got divorced, moved back to Oklahoma and left Nashville,” he said. “I was living with three strange women that I did not know. They were 8, 6 and 4. And I was about to get a crash course in females. … And my best friend showed up.” Brooks was referring to his current wife and fellow country music star Trisha Yearwood.

Brooks and Yearwood started dating not long after his divorce, which he was very thankful for.

“It was good, [Yearwood] helped me out a lot. She didn’t have children either. So we were kind of blind leading the blind,” Brooks said. “I’d never wished divorce on anybody, but three children and three parents worked really well, especially since the girls were all tomboys. So they were all at soccer, track and field, softball. Never ever did one of those kids take the field where at least one parent wasn’t in the stands. … I love music to death, really do. But there’s nothing like loving your babies.”

He also admitted that after he first met Yearwood in 1988, just 13 months after he'd married Mahl, he told a friend “I feel like I just met my wife." But he said he's happy he stayed with her because it produced three amazing children.

“My Taylor wouldn’t be Taylor. Little August, there’s hardheaded and then there’s whatever, August is! She wouldn’t be that defiant cool chick. And then our little Allie, our little dreamer. She wouldn’t be here. They’re the perfect blend of their mama and me with Trisha’s influence on them,” Brooks said. “If we’d gotten married then, either the career wouldn’t have been what it was in the ’90s or our marriage wouldn’t have lasted. So I have to believe that things happen when they happen. I feel very lucky right now where I’m at. Even if I did have regrets, I wouldn’t change anything in fear of changing where I’m at right now.”