Luke Bryan Says 18-Year Marriage to Wife Caroline Has Been an ‘Amazing Journey’

Luke Bryan and Caroline Bryan are going strong.

The country star reflected on his marriage to his wife of 18 years during the Wednesday, Oct. 29 episode of the CNN Podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper.

Luke, now 49, praised Caroline for all of the support she’s given him and their family over the years, including raising their two sons Thomas “Bo” Boyer, 17, and Tatum “Tate” Christopher, 15, and Luke’s nieces and nephew after the deaths of his sister, Kelly, and his brother-in-law.

“Well, I don’t know anybody that could have done what she’s done,” he said of his wife. “I mean, she goes into life thinking she’s marrying a country music singer, and then next thing you know, she’s helping the girls and the boys and still putting up with my antics.”

Luke continued: “It’s been an amazing journey. And t wouldn’t, you know it couldn’t have gone on without walking in that bar [Dingus MaGee’s] at Georgia Southern.”

The “Buy Dirt” musician then noted that his wife had experience her own fair share of grief.

“She lost her brother and sister, lost a young, they lost a seven month old baby. And we’ve had to watch them deal with grief, losing a seventh month old, very close to us and we love them,” said Luke.

He added: “It’s just life is hard out there.”

In a 2021 PEOPLE cover story, Luke opened up about his marriage to Caroline – and what helps them maintain their bond.

“Our household’s crazy,” he said at the time. “We just have a ball in life and have a ball with our kids.”

He also noted that in their relationship there’s a bit of an “opposites attract” dynamic.

“I think it makes us drive each other crazy, but then it pulls us together, too,” said Luke. “We’ve gotten better at understanding when we need to sit down and work through something. And we’ve also gotten better at realizing when we just need to forgive each other and move on….”

Caroline added that they, too, have “arguments, bad days, and disagreements,” but they “always talk out our problems.”

“Marriage isn’t always a fairy tale! It’s a battle that both people have to be willing to fight. Each day whether we are blissfully happy or not, we fight for each other,” she said.

Luke and Caroline initially met in college in the late ’90s and had an on-and-off relationship for a few years before getting married in 2006.