Luke Combs is reminiscing about the difficult moment he missed the birth of his and wife Nicole Hocking’s second child.
The country singer was on tour in Australia when Nicole gave birth to son Beau, 10 months, in August 2023.
“I haven’t really told anyone that yet,” Luke shared Zane Lowe from Apple Music 1 on Thursday, labeling that fact as a “very hard” truth to face.
The 32-year-old admitted: ‘I will probably never forget the craziest day in my life…close. One of the best and one of the worst days of my life happened at the same time, interestingly enough, and it’s so hard to wrap my mind around it.”
Luke explained in a text message how he found out about his little one’s arrival.
Luke Combs reminisces about the difficult moment he missed the birth of his and wife Nicole Hocking’s second child
Nicole, 31, sent him a message that read, “I’m so sorry, I’ve been really trying not to have the baby while you’re gone.”
“And God, dude, it sucked,” Luke explained.
However, Luke was still able to witness the birth via FaceTime.
“I saw him being born, which was amazing,” he said emotionally. “He wasn’t born yet, but my wife went, she texted me on the way to the hospital, and he was two and a half weeks early, and I was supposed to be home and I wasn’t.”
Even though Luke wasn’t in the hospital room, he took a moment to praise those who were there for him.
“God, it was a hard day,” he reflected, “but I was so lucky that a lot of my best friends work for me now. And so I had a really great support system.”
Including Nicole’s mother.
“Luckily my mother-in-law came over for a month while I was gone because obviously we have a 1-year-old and my wife is essentially nine months pregnant at the time, so thank goodness she was there. Luke said to Zane. “My sister-in-law also lives in Nashville. So my wife had a great support system for that experience, which I’m very grateful for. That made it a lot easier. I had people with me, everything went great. No hiccups in the process or anything like that.’
But fans shouldn’t expect his pain to be put into words on his new album Father & Son.
Tex, 2, and Beau, 10 months, play with toy trucks as seen on the country singer’s Instagram feed
The 32-year-old admitted: ‘I will probably never forget the craziest day in my life…close. One of the best and one of the worst days of my life happened at the same time, interestingly enough, and it’s so hard to wrap my head around it.”
“I didn’t cover that too much on this album because it’s very difficult for me to deal with,” the singer admitted. ‘It’s definitely a defining moment in my life. In many ways it sums up some of the bad aspects of the music business.”
Giving insight into what his career entails, Luke explained: “Your schedule is crazy and you travel all over the world. It’s not like I can drop everything I’m doing and fly home for 18 hours.”
Luke and Nicole, who tied the knot in Florida in 2020, are also parents to son Tex, 2.
Although the couple has largely kept their sons out of the spotlight, Luke gave followers a rare glimpse are guys on Instagram earlier this month.
In the first photo, Tex and Beau lay next to each other on the floor while playing with toy trucks.
Another shot showed Luke and Tex outside in the garden, with the eldest child carrying a stick as the Beautiful Crazy artist looked down at him, smiling.
The Grammy nominee is on daddy duty as he reads a book with one hand while holding Beau in his other arm
Luke donned his dad hat in many other photos in the carousel, such as when he played guitar for Beau, held Tex in a golf cart and balanced a book in one hand and a sleeping Beau on his other arm.
A sweet family photo showed a previously pregnant Nicole standing in a sunflower field and staring at her husband as he lifted Text into the air.
‘”The man he sees in me.” Available now,” Luke captioned the Instagram.
The father of two strums the guitar as his little one watches
Nicole also shared her own photos of their family, posting a Polaroid photo of Beau’s feet as she announced his birth and a sweet birthday shoutout to her other half.
‘Happy Birthday to my favorite human!!!!’ she wrote in March. ‘The world is a better place with you in it. I love you sooo much! I hope you love Federico!!!’
Above the caption, Nicole posted a compilation of photos of the family of four.
Luke echoed his wife’s sentiments, writing in the comments section, “Thank you my love! I wouldn’t want to live it with anyone else.”
Last July, it was the superstar’s turn to sweep Nicole off her feet on her 31st birthday.
‘Congratulations to the love of my life, the world’s best mother and my best friend’ said Lucas on Instagram. “You shed so much light on my life every day. It’s hard to explain how much you mean to me and to our little family. I love you!!!’