Lainey Wilson has confirmed that her father has a “Heart Like A Truck.” While walking the star-studded red carpet at the 2023 ACM Awards, the decorative artist revealed that her father has fully recovered from diabetic ketoacidosis—a fungal infection that left him in the ICU for nearly two months.
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Last summer (Aug. 2, 2022), Wilson was forced to cancel a string of shows last-minute due to a family emergency. She explained that her father had to undergo surgery in Houston, Texas. According to the Mayo Clinic, diabetic ketoacidosis is a “serious complication” that occurs when the body produces high levels of blood acids called ketones and develops when the body can’t produce enough insulin.
Brian Wilson, her resilient father, has a redemption story that can’t be matched and was in the audience to witness his daughter sweep the ACM Awards.
“He’s good! He’s here tonight, out in the crowd, and he’s doing ok,” Wilson told ET’s Rachel Smith. “He’s getting to ride the tractor and farm, he’s back doing those kind of things. And as long as he’s back to doing those things, I’m kind of like, ‘Ok, he’s gonna be alright.'”
While in the ICU, there was a moment when Wilson believed her father wouldn’t make it. She turned to her devoted fan base to thank them for their well wishes and prayers.
“My daddy has not been doing well. He is here in the ICU here in Houston. Along with trying to just deal with this terrible situation, I just want you to know that I have seen the power of prayer start to work Miracles. Every single prayer, every single heart has been felt by me and my family,” she previously wrote on social media. “The support and outreach has been unreal and overwhelming, and it does not go unnoticed. I just wanted to say how much it means and let you know it truly is working miracles. He still has a long way to go. So, please keep the prayers coming if you can because I know that it is truly working all the difference in the world.”
Wilson’s father underwent nine different surgeries and suffered a stroke. Due to the infection, his left eye and multiple bones had to be removed. Following the ceremony where Wilson received four ACM Awards, Smith asked if she thinks her father cried.
“He better have cried!” stressed Wilson. “If he didn’t, we’re gonna have to do it all over again!”
Wilson performed back-to-back at the affair co-hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks. She took home – Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year [ Bell Bottom Country], Music Event of the Year, and Visual Media of the Year for “wait in the truck” with HARDY.
Bell Bottom Country serves as Wilson’s second studio album. The 16-song collection includes fan favorites “Watermelon Moonshine,” “Hillbilly Hippie,” “Smell Like Smoke,” featured on Yellowstone, and “Those Boots (Deddy’s Song), a heartfelt tribute to her father.
Wilson co-wrote “Those Boots (Deddy’s Song)” alongside Terri Jo Box and Trent Tomlinson. She told Taste of Country that she played the ballad for her father when he was recovering in the hospital.
“He’s a man of few words. I’m talking like, the only way I knew that he liked a song of mine when I was little was if he was tapping his toe or not,” she recalled. “Afterwards, he said, ‘That’s pretty dang good.'”
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