Country star Thomas Rhett: “We have twins, so to speak, just with different skin colors”

Thomas Rhett
“We have twins, so to speak, only with different skin colors”

Thomas Rhett, Lauren Akins and their daughters

© John Shearer / Getty Images

Thomas Rhett is one of America’s most sought-after country singers. But the star knows how to touch not only with his music: The story of his family formation and the adoption of his daughter from Uganda moved the whole world.

Musician Thomas adopted in 2017 Rhett, 31, with wife Lauren Akins, 31, his daughter Willa Grace – an orphan from Uganda. A lovely daughter followed a few months later. A touching story that shows that life often has its own plan. In an interview with GALA, the artist talks about the adoption process and life as the father of a black daughter today.

GALA: Shortly after you decided to adopt a daughter, your wife suddenly became pregnant. How was the jump from no daughter to two in just a few months?

Thomas Rhett: I think that’s how life goes. We have heard so many stories from friends and acquaintances who tried to have a child and had problems. Adoption has always been an option for us, so we decided pretty quickly that we wanted to adopt first. My wife was spending a lot of time in Uganda at the time. One day she shows me a photo with a little girl and suddenly everything was different.

Something inside of me knew that I would get to know this little creature better.

I called Lauren and said we need to find out if she has a family. And if she doesn’t have one, we have to bring her home. So we start the process and during the second or third trip we found out that Lauren is pregnant. That was the moment when it worked right when you stopped trying. Then everything went super fast. We brought Willa Grace home in May and our second daughter was born four months later. We have twins, so to speak, just different ages and with different skin colors.

Willa Grace now has two and soon three sisters, all of whom have a different skin color than her. Does this make itself felt in the family?
Definitely! She makes comments like “Why is my hair different?” Or “Why is my skin darker?” But Lauern and I try to make it clear to her every day that she is perfect, just as she is. We want her to know where she is from. I want her to be proud of her roots. We can’t wait to take her to Uganda one day and introduce her to the culture she comes from. This is something we will not be afraid of in any way. No matter what question Willa has, we will try to answer it as best we can.

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A great plan. Are you going to take Willa’s sister to Uganda?
I don’t think so the first time. We want it to be just Lauren, Willa and me. We want her to experience this moment only with her mother and father. Uganda has become a big part of our lives and we go there several times a year. So yeah, hopefully one day it will be an annual trip for the whole family.

Adopting a black child comes with a lot of responsibility. Did you feel pressure or were you afraid?
Definitely! In our culture, a lot of people think that we shouldn’t adopt a black child. It’s hard to hear, of course. Why shouldn’t we do this? Why shouldn’t we give this little child a home or a mother and father? There were moments when it was really tough. We have been attacked for something we did out of love. But we know we definitely did the right thing. Willa is growing up to be a grander big sister who loves her siblings more than anything. That’s the most important thing we teach her. Love and equality. We make it clear to them that everyone is equal. And the more we teach this to our children, the more it rubs off on us.

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How did you prepare for adoption? Did you get support?
Yes! Lauren has some friends who have adopted children from other origins and have prepared us for joys as well as hurdles. We used to talk a lot about what our life with a daughter could be like. I don’t think we were meant to live like everyone else and that is exactly what brought us to this point.

We will give our best and if we don’t know the answers we will ask and listen.

We learn new things every day. And we’re getting better every day. Of course, the older Willa gets, the more difficult conversations will become. I hope we have the wisdom and knowledge to answer even the tough questions that are to come.

Sources used: own interview

Gala