Chris Stapleton Gets Choked up During CMA Awards, Apologizes to Children for Being So Busy

Chris Stapleton accepted the CMA Award for Male Vocalist of the Year on Wednesday night, and the singer got choked up while apologizing to his children for being so busy.

The award was presented by Good Morning America co-host Lara Spencer and country music icon Martina McBride, who presented Stapleton with his fourth consecutive win of the award (2015 -2018).

“I’m real proud of this award, and I try real hard to be a good singer, but I also wanna thank my kids who put up with me being gone quite a bit and not getting to be as good of a dad as I would always like to be,” he said as he accepted the trophy, with his voice sounding noticeably shaken.

“I love you so much. You share me with all these people and I appreciate it,” he added, then thanking his wife Morgane Stapleton. “I wanna thank my wife for always being my wife and taking care of me and … helping me find the right thing to be and the right thing to do.”

In addition to his Male Vocalist of the Year award, Stapleton and singer-songwriter Mike Henderson took home the award for Song of the Year for the song “Broken Halos,” which appears on Stapleton’s 2017 album From A Room: Volume 1, as well as the award for Single of the Year for the same track.

Since 2015, Stapleton has won a total of 10 CMA awards — including his newest trophies — with the singer getting Album of the Year in 2016 for his debut album Traveller, and again in 2017 for From A Room: Volume 1. He also won Music Video of the Year for “Fire Away” in 2016.

Stapleton is now the male country singer with the third most consecutive Male Vocalist of the Year CMA awards, behind Vince Gill and Blake Shelton who both won five times in a row.

Other winners during the 52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards include Keith Urban, who took home the Entertainer of the Year for the first time since 2005; Carrie Underwood, who was awarded Female Vocalist of the Year; Luke Combs, who was given the New Artist of the Year; and Kacey Musgraves, who earned the coveted Album of the Year award.

Old Dominion, Brothers Osborne, Mac McAnally, Thomas Rhett, David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney were also big winners during the show.