Nearly a year after her tragic and heartbreaking passing, her husband reveals how he is navigating life without his soulmate.
The iconic and beloved country duo, Joey + Rory first came to national attention after earning high marks in 2008’s series of Can You Duet and subsequently earned airplay with their follow up musical projects. It wasn’t until 2015 that the world then learned the couple’s whole story after Joey Feek was diagnosed with cervical cancer and husband Rory Feek began writing about it on his blog. Through these blog posts, the world came to feel a certain closeness to Joey + Rory that many people never thought possible.
Upon Joey’s passing in March 2016, the entire country music community mourned for Rory and their baby girl, Indy. Prayers continued and Rory still documented his journey through life. Now, in an amazing and beautiful interview with The Today Show, Rory opens up for the first time about living life without his one true love.
Discussing his new book, This Life I Live, inspired by his blog writing with Matt Lauer, Rory opens up about how he has portrayed his late wife and the obstacles they faced. Lauer prompts the singer, “In this book, on a number of occasions you refer to Joey in the present tense – I’m curious why that is.”
“I think it’s because she’s so present in my life,” Rory responded. “I didn’t know how I would feel…but I feel her everywhere I go. I feel the choices that she made, I feel the strength that she had, and the love that she had for me and our family – and I carry it with me.”
The TV personality then continued, saying that he recognizes how tempting it would be for someone to only write about the glowing parts of life that they shared with their late partner, adding “You don’t do that. You’re honest about some of the struggles you two had.”
“Well, as amazing as our love story is – and has become over the years, all great stories have a beginning,” Rory revealed. “We were different. She didn’t want to be a mother and I had two little girls I was raising on my own.”
“She didn’t want to be a mother and she told me so. And I didn’t want to be married to someone who wanted to be a singer. Those were pretty big obstacles, but we believed we were meant to be together.”
After winning a Grammy Award for their work together on their final album, Hymns That Are Important To Us, and getting to celebrate their daughter’s third birthday, Rory says, “Sometimes faith can change everything. Just faith in something greater than what you’ve lived before. I’m an unlikely person to be a part of an amazing love story.”
We are so happy for their success with their final album, the well-deserved Grammy Award and his amazing new book!
Watch Rory Feek’s new interview with Matt Lauer for TODAY in the video below.