Lainey Wilson is getting married! The singer just announced her engagement to Devlin "Duck" Hodges, a former football player she began dating in 2021. Keep reading to find out more about their sweet love story.
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1. They met through mutual friends.
Wilson and Hodges met through friends, but she knew right away that he was the right guy for her.
"We went to this old place called Silverados, and it had free beer and wine from 5 to 10 p.m.," she recalls to People. "I was like, 'This boy likes to ball on a budget too. This is gonna work out.' "
2. They kept their relationship private for two years.
Wilson and Hodge's relationship began just as her career was taking off. Not wanting to introduce him to the world until she was sure their distance was going to stand the test of time, Wilson and Hodges didn't go public until the 2023 ACM Awards, when they walked the red carpet for the first time.
"I said, 'We gonna see if you're in it for the right reasons.' Turns out, he is," Wilson shares. "Somebody said how funny it was watching him high-five all of my artist friends at the ACMs, and I said, 'Those are his friends!' He'll FaceTime me, and he'll be with HARDY and Morgan [Wallen] and Luke [Combs], and I'm like, 'Stop stealing all my buddies.' They'll always be out golfing and drinking a beer. I don't have to convince anybody to like him. He's a very lovable person."
3. She thought she was going to have to propose to him.
After dating for so long, Wilson was more than ready for a ring, threatening to pop the question to him.
"No pressure, brother! No pressure," Wilson jokes (via CMT). "I might have to propose to him. We waiting!"
4. She calls him her biggest cheerleader.
Hodges is a former professional football player, so not at all familiar with the music industry. Still, Wilson says he understands her, and her passion for doing her best, in a way that makes sense, at least to them.
"He's the kind of dude that high-fives me on the way out the door. He's just a good person, and he's my cheerleader," Wilson tells the New York Post. "He knows how important country music is to me, and he knows how important my job is to me, and he just cheers me on from the sidelines. It's really cool to be able to share a life with somebody who also was super passionate about something since he was a child."
