Luke Bryan’s Wife, Caroline, Got ‘Freaked Out’ When He Wanted to Propose

Luke Bryan and his wife, Caroline, have been happily married for more than 12 years, but their romance didn’t always go so well. The couple, who met when they were both students at Georgia Southern University, dated for over a year, before Caroline put the brakes on the relationship.

“We met my first week of college, at a bar called Dingus, and we were just hanging out,” Carolina revaled on the Get Real podcast (via CMT). “It was a Thursday night. I was a freshman. It was my first time in a bar. I was so sheltered growing up in a very small town — Sandersville, the Kaolin Capital of the World — and I’d had the same boyfriend since 8th grade. We’d agreed to go our separate ways and just see what was out there. Luke’s personality was so big, I was staring at him like, ‘Is this guy for real?’ He was the second guy I ever kissed in my life. Ever.”

Bryan quickly swept Caroline off of her feet, but ultimately she decided she wasn’t ready to be as serious as her then-boyfriend.

“We dated for year and a half, and then I got freaked out because he was talking about marriage,” Caroline recalled. “We separated for four years. Us breaking up was horrible. It was Christmas of my sophomore year, when he was leaving school. I dated two other guys, but Luke was always the sweetest and the best. Hands down. But I wasn’t ready to be in love. He had the nerve once to bring a girl to my house in college for a pre-party. I got pissed and I left. I was like, ‘What the hell?’”

Thankfully, the couple was destined to be together, and fate soon intervened.

“I was a drug rep in Macon, [Georgia], but I was in Statesboro for work, and my brother said, ‘Guess who is playing in town?’ I saw Luke playing, and something was different. We made eye contact and we locked eyes. I was in my work clothes, not going-out clothes. I felt like a grandma. Then he took a break, and I thought he was trying to avoid me. So I left. He called my brother’s house at 3:00 a.m., and I answered.

“He was like, ‘Where did you go?’ I said, ‘I thought you didn’t want to see me.’ Anyway, we’ve been together ever since. He and I would’ve never ever, ever lasted if we didn’t have a break. We appreciate each other.”

The Bryans have also endured hardships, including the loss of both of the singer’s siblings, their niece Brett, and a heartbreaking miscarriage that Caroline admits affected her differently than her husband.

“Luke didn’t really know how to comfort me because he didn’t get it,” Caroline acknowledged. “As girls, when you go through it and you lose it, there is a loss and it sucks and it hurts. It’s awful physically. Guys, I don’t think they know because they haven’t felt it or seen it. For girls, it’s a true loss and for guys, I don’t know if it’s a true loss.”

Photo Credit: Getty images/Rick Diamond