Thomas Rhett’s wife Lauren Akins on overcoming resentment in marriage
Thomas Rhett's wife Lauren Akins opened up about the early phases in her marriage to the country star when the couple decided to expand their family while Rhett's career took on a life of its own.
In a short film released by I Am Second titled "Lauren Akins - This Wasn't The Plan," Akins got candid about her and Rhett's decision to adopt their oldest daughter Willa Gray and welcoming their second daughter Ada James shortly after.
Akins met Willa when she was five months old while traveling to Uganda on a mission trip. She recalled telling her husband over FaceTime about the baby girl and how she felt she was "called to help her find her forever home."
In response, Akins shared, "He looked at me and he was like, 'We'll do it.'"
The couple eventually adopted Willa in May 2017 after going through what Akins described as an "intense" 13-month period of the adoption process. Akins found herself having to handle the process alone while Rhett was on tour, and the situation got even tougher when she discovered she was pregnant at the same time.
"I was getting sick and throwing up like 50-something times a day," she explained. "The whole time I was missing my husband. I started to resent him a little bit because he was back in America touring."
Her parents jumped in to help, bringing Willa home, and three months after Willa arrived in the U.S., Akins and Rhett welcomed their daughter Ada into the world.
"Three months to the day that she came home, I went into the hospital to deliver Ada James," she said. "It kinda felt like we went from zero to two pretty quick as parents."
The couple's life took a bigger turn after Akins began joining Rhett on the road with their two kids.
"His life went on, and I feel like mine stopped," she recounted. "And I felt like we weren't doing it together anymore. I feel like there was a lot of miscommunication, there was a lot of resentment I was holding on to even through the adoption and after. I just hit a breaking point. I didn't like him and I resented him."
In an effort to save their marriage, Akins and Rhett, who tied the knot in 2012, participated in an "intensive counseling session" during which the pair "shared everything."
"Some of it was really hard to hear from each other, so we really just did a restart," she said.
The couple later welcomed their third child, Lennon Love, in 2020, and their fourth, Lillie Carolina, in 2021.
Akins said she struggled with postpartum depression after giving birth to Lillie. She praised Rhett for stepping up to help raise their kids while she navigated the post-partum aftermath and getting the care she needed.
Despite the challenges during their marriage, Akins shared that their youngest daughter Lillie completed their lives and became such "a gift to my heart and to her sisters Lennon, Willa Gray, Ada James."
In the past, Rhett has recognized the wonderful life he built with Akins. In May, the singer shared how Akins inspired his new song "Beautiful As You, " the first single off his seventh studio album, set for release on Aug. 23.
"There was one day a couple years back when I was looking at my wife, and I was like, 'Why in the world did you choose me?'" he said in a press release at the time. "I get to be with someone who could easily be on the cover of a magazine, and I get to see her in all her forms -- a partner, a mother, a friend, even a philanthropist."
Added Rhett, "I just feel like I've got a first row seat at almost-perfection, if you will. And like the song says, 'Seriously, what is somebody as amazing as you doing with somebody like me?'"
