Tim McGraw Raises Bar With Romantic Message for Faith Hill’s Birthday

After more than 25 years of marriage, Tim McGraw is still head over heels in love with his wife Faith Hill. On Thursday, the “Humble and Kind” singer penned a sweet message to his “best friend” as Hill celebrated her 56th birthday.

“Happy birthday to the love of my life, my partner and my best friend. You light up every room you walk into and you light up my heart and soul. I love you more than I could ever express in a million years. This is your day my love!!!!” McGraw wrote alongside a photo of his wife. Replying to the post, the couple’s daughter Audrey, 21, commented, “The most beautiful. Inside and out.” Their other daughter Maggie, 25,added, “Ugh pls adopt me.” McGraw and Hill are also parents to Gracie, 26.

After sparking “instant” chemistry when they first met at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee in 1996, McGraw and Hill sparked romance in 1996. At the time, Hill, who was engaged to record producer Scott Hicks, was an opening act on McGraw’s Spontaneous Combustion tour. McGraw was newly single after breaking off his engagement to Kristine Donahue. Hill ultimately called off her own engagement, telling PEOPLE in 1998, “I wasn’t about to let Tim slip through my hands.”

After dating for a short time, the couple became engaged later that year, with McGraw popping the question while the two were at a country music festival. Hill responded “yes” by writing her response in lipstick on the mirror in McGraw’s dressing room at the festival. They went on to tie the knot on Oct. 6, 1996, later welcoming their first child, Gracie Katherine, in May 1997, followed by daughter Maggie Elizabeth in August 1998 and Audrey Caroline in December 2001.

Ahead of celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary next month, McGraw credited his wife with keeping both his career and him alive. Speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in August, the country crooner shared, “I guarantee you, had I not gotten married to Faith at 29 years old, A, I probably would’ve ran my career into the ground. And B-well, I would’ve died or ran my career into the ground, one or the other, and it wouldn’t have ever been where it’s at now.” He went on to reveal that his wife was a major driving force behind his decision to get sober in 2008, telling Lowe, “I think when the kids got old enough that they could notice things is when she finally said, ‘You’ve got to figure this out.’” 

McGraw said he and his wife “have a confidence in our life. We have a confidence in our foundation. All of this could go away and we’re perfectly happy with the five of us.”