Garth Brooks performs onstage at the ASCAP Centennial Awards at Waldorf Astoria Hotel on November 17, 2014 in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ASCAP
On the cover of the latest edition of People, Garth Brooks opens up about his decision 14 years ago to step away from the spotlight to focus on his family, and his choice now to return to music.
“People said, ‘How could you walk away from music?'” he explained to the magazine. “But being a dad — there’s nothing that can touch that.”
Brooks admits his return to full-time music-making had something to do with facing an empty nest. Brooks has three daughters with ex-wife Sandy Mahl: Taylor, 22, August, 20, and Allie, 18.
“I am in the period now where I think I pray more than I ever have in my life,” Brooks said of having his kids out of the house. “Because for some reason when they were under my roof, I felt like I might have had some control, you know?…Thank God I’m with the love of my life [Trisha Yearwood]. That’s why I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”