When looking at the career produced by Garth Brooks, the country singer proved himself to be a top name in country music thanks to selling over 170 million albums. Due to his success and ability to record a hit song, the singer gained entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. While loving the career he created, back in the early 2000s, the singer went through what he considered one of the “darkest” times of his life. And with his new box set released in a few weeks, Brooks decided to discuss that time and how it impacted his life and music.
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On December 6th, fans can go deep into the world of Brooks thanks to The Anthology Part IV: Going Home. The box set comes packed with photos and stories surrounding Brooks and his retirement in 2000. Back in 1999, Brooks lost his mother to cancer, and in 2001, he got divorced from Sandy Mahl. And between those years, the country star decided to retire.
Although a turbulent time in his life, Brooks opened up about those years on Inside Studio G, revealing, “I’m kind of embarrassed about this. One of the things you learn first is this whole Anthology IV starts in probably the darkest time of my life. This was tough. This was tough to talk about.” He continued, “You’re in the triangle, right? You’re in the triangle of retiring, you’re gonna lose your marriage to someone that’s been a really good friend to you for 15 years, and then you are… you lost your mama. It’s just tough. It’s just a dark period of time.”
Garth Brooks Felt “Bad” About His Decision To Retire
Able to look back on his life and the decisions he made, Brooks appeared to regret announcing his retirement at the 100 Million in Sales Celebratory Presser. “What I didn’t know is who didn’t know the announcement was coming. I guess I had went over it in my head so much that I just thought everybody knew. So the fact that the retirement at the 100 Million press conference was a surprise to even our people kind of made me feel bad about how it was handled on my side. Looking back, that’s one of the things that caught me off guard.”
While learning from the past, Brooks insisted those times taught him what mattered. “The 100 Million (milestone), that was sweet. Could not have asked for a better start. Quite possibly the best start in music history for anyone. But the most important thing was my relationship with the girls and their mom.”
(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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