Is Garth Brooks’ Wife, Trisha Yearwood, Friends With Ex-Wife Sandy Mahl?

Garth Brooks’ wife is Trisha Yearwood, and the country singers seem like the perfect pair. Prior to Yearwood, though, Brooks was married to Sandy Mahl. So, what happened to the couple, and why did their marriage end in divorce? And are Yearwood and Mahl friends now?

What happened to Garth Brooks and Sandy Mahl?

Brooks and Mahl met one night while Brooks was working as a bouncer at the Tumbleweed Ballroom in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Country Fancast reports. Allegedly, Mahl got into an argument in the women’s bathroom and attempted to throw a punch while Brooks was working — though her first got stuck in the wood paneling of the wall. No matter what really happened, it’s clear this is the location where the two first met.

The two ultimately bonded over music. Mahl’s a songwriter and supported Brooks through his journey to becoming a country music star. She reportedly left Oklahoma to support Brooks as he made his way to Nashville, too. The couple was married from 1986 to 2001 and had three children together– but they couldn’t make their relationship last.

“People constantly wanting your attention and yanking and pulling on him,” Mahl said in the documentary, Garth Brooks: The Road I’m On, according to Good Housekeeping. “He’d be gone eight to 10 weeks at a time. He’d come home, [and] there would be number-one parties, or shows, or CMAs, or ACMs, American Music Awards, so it was constantly going. But we both grew apart really, really quickly.”

Are Garth Brooks and Sandy Mahl still friends?

Because Sandy Mahl was once Garth Brooks’ wife, what does he think of her today? It seems they’re on great terms, as they still work together to co-parent their daughters. And Brooks noted he didn’t even realize Mahl’s true feelings about their marriage until the documentary was released.

“[I was] gone so much on the road [during our marriage], there were things I guess she was [trying to tell] me that I didn’t hear until this biography,” Brooks said, according to Us Weekly. “It’s rare you get to hear the other side. I just saw her and I think I hugged her harder than I ever have now that I know things that either I didn’t hear or that she didn’t say until now.”

Even during his marriage to Mahl, Brooks knew his wife should’ve been Yearwood, though. The two met after Brooks and Mahl were married for 13 months. “When someone said, ‘What’d you think when I met her?’ I said, ‘I felt like I just met my wife,’ which is weird, right?” Brooks added. “But the girls’ mother and I were married in a church, in front of our families.”

Are Sandy Mahl and Trisha Yearwood friends?

So, what does Sandy Mahl think of Garth Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood? It seems she’s happy Yearwood entered the family. According to Good Housekeeping, Mahl told Brooks when he was set to marry Yearwood, “I think this is a really good move for you, and I think this is a really good move for our children.”

Does this mean Mahl and Yearwood are friends? While the two women are incredibly amicable and want the best for the kids in the family, it doesn’t look like they spend too much time together. Mahl has discussed Yearwood minimally over the years, and Yearwood also tends to keep her personal life under wraps. Given how amicable Mahl and Brooks are now, though, it’s easy to see how everyone in the family gets along.

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