The Untold Truth Of Faith Hill

Faith Hill seemingly has it all. The Grammy winner has a decades-long career, a loving husband in Tim McGraw (who also happens to be a country music legend), and three daughters, Gracie Katherine, Maggie Elizabeth, and Audrey Caroline. The powerhouse couple has taken the music industry by storm, and they regularly collaborate together. According to Biography, their May 2000 Soul2Soul Tour scored the title of "the highest grossing country music tour ever."

Born Audrey Faith Perry (Hill is the last name of the singer's first husband, Daniel Hill), the superstar has come a long way from her early days singing in church choirs. In spite of her international fame, the singer has remained down to earth and true to her roots, preferring time alone with her husband and family to the bright lights of the cameras. As she sings in one of her hit songs, Hill is still a "Mississippi Girl" at heart. Here is the untold truth of Faith Hill that even her biggest fans probably don't know. 

Faith Hill was adopted by the Perry family as a baby. While she had a wonderful childhood and grew up in a loving home, questions about her birth family lingered. Hill said that she used to imagine that she was secretly the daughter of one of her aunts... or maybe Elvis Presley's daughter. "I have a great family: salt of the earth, hardworking," she told Billboard (via E! News). However, she noted, "I didn't know anyone I was related to, biologically, which gives you a sense of not ­knowing who you are."

Hill finally found her birth mother, a professional painter, when she was in her 20s. The experience of meeting someone biologically related to her changed her life. "The first time I met her I just stared at her," she told People. "I'd never seen anybody that looked anything like me. It was the awe of seeing someone you came from. It fills something."

According to her ex-husband, Daniel Hill, finding her birth mother also led to their divorce. "After that, her world turned upside down," he said. "I was part of her old world, and she had to let that world go."

Faith Hill and her adoptive family are incredibly close. They didn't have a lot of money when she was growing up, but they were happy and the singer remembers her childhood fondly. Her father, Ted, was a factory worker with a fourth grade education. Her mom, Edna, was a bank teller. According to Biography, Hill also has two older brothers. "They were strong, the hardest-working people I've ever known," Hill told People of her parents. "Mom financially stretched a dollar into 10. My parents' combined salary when I left home at 18 was probably $25,000, raising three kids and paying bills. That's impressive."

Hill said that her childhood was "pretty amazing" and "really stable" on Larry King Live. She credits her "incredible home" with her success, adding that her family provided her with "the backbone that I have in order to do this for a living, which is a crazy, sometimes unstable world that this projects."

Faith Hill has been nurturing her singing chops for most of her life. Hill started singing in church when she was just 3 or 4 years old. "I stood up on the pew and sang along," she told The Washington Post. "It was just like that scene at the beginning of What's Love Got to Do With It where the congregation is real subdued and Tina Turner is shouting with a lot of soul. That was me."

In her teens, Hill joined the Steele Family gospel quartet and toured churches all over the region. In spite of the fact that Hill is white, she said she felt more "at home" at the black churches the quartet sang in because of the way "singers would fill themselves up with the spirit and just let it out." To The Washington Post, she even revealed that she'd told her mother that she was "supposed to have been born black, because [she] felt most at home in those churches." She explained, "They showed their excitement like I wanted to show mine."

It's hard to imagine Faith Hill being anything but a success, but there is at least one big gig that she didn't land. Back when the singer was just starting out, she auditioned to be a backup singer for country music legend Reba McEntire. The gig ended up going to another singer, Paula Kaye Evans, who was killed in a 1991 plane crash carrying seven members of McEntire's band, as well as her touring manager. As noted by People, there were no survivors.

Some might think that Hill not getting the job was a twist of fate that saved her life, but the singer disagrees. "Well, I didn't get it because I wasn't good enough," she said on Larry King Live. "I don't think it was because — I don't think fate had anything to do with that for me. I wasn't a great background singer and I didn't get the part."

Hill later got her big break after being discovered by a Warner Brother Records executive while singing at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe.

Faith Hill and her husband, Tim McGraw, have an enviable marriage and have built a good life together. Before she fell for McGraw, though, she was engaged to record producer Scott Hendricks. Hill and McGraw met when she was on tour with him as his opening act in 1996. While she was in a relationship and McGraw had recently broken off an engagement, sparks flew.

Hill made it clear that she didn't end things with Hendricks because of McGraw, though. "It obviously wasn't a rock-solid situation or it wouldn't have ended," she told People. "There wouldn't have been someone else who could walk into my life. Tim is not the reason I left."

Hill also pushed back against people who gossiped about her supposedly leaving her fiancé for another man. "I wasn't about to let Tim slip through my hands," she said. "And I had more self-worth and self-respect to not stay in a situation just because someone else thinks I should. I have to be happy too." Fortunately, Hill and McGraw would go on to marry, making Hill one of several singers with gorgeous husbands. 

Even though Faith Hill is married to Tim McGraw, another one of the biggest names in country music, she doesn't think of herself as being part of a celebrity couple. She and McGraw have built their life together in a way that doesn't "allow that kind of attention," as she told Glamour. While Hill and McGraw have their ups and downs like every other couple, they do their best to keep their personal life out of the public eye. 

Perhaps the reason that Hill and McGraw don't view themselves as a celeb couple is because their relationship comes before their careers. Hill said that their marriage "is deeper than most things." She made it very clear that she views marriage as a serious commitment, and this devotion helps their marriage get through the rough patches. "It's not all bliss, but commitment is what love is about," said Hill. 

Having kids inevitably changes your life. It's different for every parent, but, for Faith Hill, she found that becoming a mother gave her a newfound feeling of confidence. Her three daughters, one of whom is basically Faith Hill's twin, have made her into a stronger person who feels more capable of tackling life. "Watching each of them establish their independence and seeing them put it to good use gives me strength and confidence," the singer told Redbook.

Hill may have gained confidence from raising her daughters, but her husband has said that she has also passed that confidence on to the same people who inspired it. In an interview with Taste of Country, McGraw talked about what a wonderful mother his wife is. He said that their daughters have a good example to look up to in Hill, who showed them how to "go out and face the world as a woman."

Even though Faith Hill has spent most of her life in the spotlight, she hasn't let the fame go to her head. The country star likes to live an ordinary life when it's possible. Her home life is pretty laid back. Far from living the jet-setting life or spending her evenings going out, she and her husband like to spend the night relaxing at home and going to bed early. "We are not the most exciting people in the world," she admitted to New Beauty. "We don't stay out late and we don't really go to parties — we are usually in bed by 9 p.m. For us, the rest just builds energy so we have the energy to do all the things we need to do."

Far more important to Hill than going out is family time. In 2018, Tim McGraw told Taste of Country that Hill was struggling with her children growing up and the fact that they would soon be empty-nesters. "Sometimes she just misses them and doing things for them everyday and doing things moms do," said McGraw. "I think it's really tough on her sometimes."

Faith Hill is a beautiful woman, but she's also a woman who knows that looks aren't everything. To her, it's all about inner beauty and about living your life to the fullest. "Beauty for me has a lot to do with happiness and a certain confidence deep inside," she told Redbook. "People can see both of those things on your face."

Hill added that she doesn't spend much time getting glammed up and often goes out of the house without any makeup on at all, saying it's not something she really thinks about. While she said she'll occasionally slap on some mascara or lipstick when she leaves the house, her day-to-day makeup routine is pretty minimal. "A lot of that has to do with time," she said. "Do I want to spend an extra half hour in my bathroom, or would I rather be with the girls?"

The Faith Hill fans see on stage isn't necessarily the Faith Hill that her family and friends see at home. In an interview with Redbook, she was asked if she has an alter ego similar to Beyoncé's Sasha Fierce. She said that she does, referring to it as "a double life." Hill explained that, in her everyday life, she's just a typical mom. When it comes time to perform, though, everything is different. Hill compared the transformation she goes through when performing to "putting on a different persona."

"Something happens," she said. "I need to step back from that everyday Faith and be the dress-up girl."

Stepping into another character isn't just about helping Hill perform, though. Being on stage is also a liberating experience for the singer. "It's a matter of getting lost in the music and the moment," she said. "It's like therapy. It's a freeing of the soul."

Even people who aren't fans of country music may be familiar with Faith Hill's face. She's also a talented actress, although she only has a handful of roles under her belt, including a guest role on Touched by an Angel in 1997 and a part in the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives.

While she would love to act more, the singer has found it hard to book steady acting gigs thanks to her busy schedule. That doesn't mean she isn't always on the lookout for that perfect role, though. In 2015, Hill made her first film appearance in years in Dixieland, playing Arletta, a mother helping her son re-adjust to society after a two-year prison sentence. "I had many scripts I've read over the years, but the timing never worked out," she told Deadline. "And then this character of Arletta, this really really interesting character written by Hank Bedford, came into my life... I just related to Arletta."

As of this writing, Hill hasn't had an acting role since Dixieland. Hopefully it won't be too long until we see her in another film.

Faith Hill has undoubtedly aged well, and she's determined to continue to do so naturally. While some stars drop countless dollars in an effort to maintain their youthful looks, Hill isn't worried about getting older or looking older. "I honestly don't pay attention to it," she told New Beauty.

Part of Hill's acceptance of growing older is motivated by her kids. "If I did [worry], my girls would notice and I don't want that," she said. "It's not a message I want them to have." Instead, Hill wants her daughters to see life — including getting older — as "a blessing."

Not being afraid of getting older, however, doesn't mean that Hill isn't looking after herself. In 2009, Hill told Redbook that she had started a new beauty routine with the focus on being healthy. She began to eat better and to exercise, although she was hesitant to call her new regimen a diet. Instead, Hill said she became more "conscious of what I put into my body."

While Faith Hill is okay with her body changing as she gets older, she isn't opposed to a little photo retouching. Being okay with a wrinkle here and there being removed from a photo, though, is about as far as the singer will let things go. It's common knowledge that models and celebrities often have their photos heavily airbrushed, and Hill has a problem with this.

"Sometimes they go way too far," she told CMT News. "I've actually asked them to cut back. The last several things we've done, we said, "Don't do so much.' Sometimes when it's so much, it doesn't even look real. It looks bad."

Hill revealed that she started protesting heavy edits after she realized a dimple had been removed from one of her photos. Noting that she has wrinkles near her eyes, she said, "They're laugh lines and they should remain," though she joked that magazines can "take some of them away, sure!" However, she noted, "But don't take all of them away because that's my life, you know?" 

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are one of the most iconic celebrity couples of all time. While so many celeb couples break up, the country music icons have kept their relationship going strong for decades. Keeping their marriage intact isn't always easy, but they make it work by making sure to carve out time for themselves to be together, no matter how hectic their lives get. Even when they're busy on tour together, they find time to go out on dates.

For the couple, it's all about the little things. "Funny, as we get older it's less about the big gestures and more about just spending the time together at home," McGraw told People. "For our 20th wedding anniversary, we stayed home, in our pajamas and watched TV. We loved it."

While some couples might find it hard to live and work together (in addition to joint tours, the couple regularly collaborate), Hill and McGraw have struck a good balance. "Our personal life and our work together are two very separate things," Hill told Chatelaine. "We have incredible respect for one another, and that helps when we're pitching ideas back and forth."