Luke Bryan opened up about raising his nieces and nephew after his siblings died
From an outsider’s perspective, everything seems to be coming up roses for Luke Bryan. Within just a decade, he’s built up an incredible career as one of America’s top country artists. But in a candid interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Luke opened up about losing both his siblings and the tragedy that coincided with his success.
In 1996, Luke lost his 26-year-old brother Chris in a car accident. Then in 2007, his sister Kelly died suddenly from unknown causes. Her death was followed by husband Ben Lee Cheshire’s unexpected death in 2014, which left their three children without parents.
Luke and wife Caroline immediately took the children in without hesitation.
"We never thought twice about it," Caroline told Roberts. "You know, it was never something that he and I had to sit down and talk about, you know, should we take this on? We just did it."
The couple’s two young sons, Bo and Tate, were joined by older cousins Kris and Jordan — both girls are now college-aged — and 15-year-old Til. Luke told Roberts that raising a teen is harder than he expected.
"We’re buddies now, though, kinda," he said. "Until he makes me...that's when I get onto him, I'm like, 'Alright, you're making me be an adult, don't make me be an adult!'"
EXCLUSIVE: One-on-one with @LukeBryanOnline; country superstar opens up about family and career with @RobinRoberts: https://t.co/MyvPu3p8bK pic.twitter.com/UYd94wLWTx
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 6, 2017
In a 2015 interview with People.com,the singer said that his main focus is on helping his nieces and nephews with whatever they need after such a traumatic life event.
"Obviously my nieces and nephew, they didn’t ask for this," he told the site. "Their life was amazing before Caroline and I took a more prominent role, even after losing their mother. Now my focus is trying to do what we can to help them."
"I've watched my family go through ebbs and flows where we get mad at God and we get mad at why this has happened. Well, you keep going and you try to, try to be as positive as you can, and you try to appreciate every day. You'll never get back to 100 percent. You'll always be working to get back to 75 percent."
Let this serve as a reminder to hug our loved ones a little tighter, and be appreciative for every day.
