Tim McGraw has a lot of respect and admiration for his mother, Betty D'Agostino. McGraw and his two sisters were raised in rural Louisiana by D'Agostino, when life for his mother was anything but easy.
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"I think more than anything is her tenacity," McGraw tells his record label, speaking of what he admires the most about her. "You know, my mom worked three jobs with us growing up, and was in some abusive relationships. She really worked hard and really instilled a sense of belief in ourself, and to dream and to always go for stuff."
Now the father to three grown daughters, whom he shares with his wife, Faith Hill, McGraw uses the lessons from his own mother in what he works to instill in his own girls.
"I feel like hopefully Faith and I both have done that for our daughters," McGraw says. "But that's the trait of my mom -- besides her big heart, that's the trait in my mom that I admire most, her tenacity and her willingness to overcome adversity."
Tim McGraw's Father, Tug McGraw
McGraw grew up thinking his stepfather, Horace Smith, was his biological father. But when he was 11, McGraw discovered his birth certificate, which revealed that professional baseball player Tug McGraw was actually his father.
"I think a lot of people don't realize I didn't grow up with Tug," McGraw says on the Today Show. "I didn't know Tug was my dad. ... And, like I said, we didn't have a whole lot, and I was in my mom's closet, I was digging through something and found my birth certificate. It said McGraw. My name was Smith as a kid because my stepdad's name was Horace Smith."
Still, McGraw holds no regrets about his upbringing. The two became close when McGraw was older, with McGraw even inviting Tug to live with him after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Tug passed away in 2004.
"He stayed at my cabin out at the farm," McGraw tells Taste of Country. "We were spending a lot of nights out there with my uncle and my brother just hanging out, listening to music and watching football games. We spent a couple of weeks there before he passed away in the bedroom there in the cabin."
