Always knew they'd wed

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Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks knew Trisha Yearwood would be his wife some day, even though he was already married when they first met.

The country singer was instantly smitten when he and Yearwood initially crossed paths in 1988, but at the time, he had been married to Sandy Mahl for just over a year.

"I feel like I just met my wife," Brooks recalled telling a friend at the time.

Yet the star has no regrets about his first marriage, as he welcomed three daughters with his former spouse - Taylor, 27, August, 25, and Allie, 23.

"My Taylor wouldn't be Taylor. Little August, there's hardheaded and then there's whatever August is! She wouldn't be that defiant cool chick," he added. "And then our little Allie, our little dreamer. She wouldn't be here. They're the perfect blend of their mama and me with Trisha's influence on them."

"If we'd gotten married then, either the career wouldn't have been what it was in the '90s or our marriage wouldn't have lasted," he continued. "So I have to believe that things happen when they happen. I feel very lucky right now where I'm at. Even if I did have regrets, I wouldn't change anything in fear of changing where I'm at right now."

Brooks, who is currently promoting his two-part TV documentary, The Road I'm On, also discussed taking a break from music in 2001 and starting his new life with Yearwood.

"I just said goodbye to music, got divorced, moved back to Oklahoma and left Nashville," he shared. "I was living with three strange women (his daughters) that I did not know. They were eight, six, and four. And I was about to get a crash course in females... And my best friend (Yearwood) showed up."

Brooks and Mahl split in 2000 and he later began dating Yearwood, whom he wed in 2005.

The documentary, for which Mahl was interviewed, has since helped him reflect on the break-up of his first marriage with fresh eyes, and he really appreciates everything Mahl did for their girls while he was away touring.

"What really surprised me was Sandy, the girls' mom. She was phenomenal," Brooks said. "(I was) gone so much on the road (during our marriage), there were things I guess... I didn't hear until this biography.

"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."