Love you like a love song. Kellie Pickler and husband Kyle Jacobs bonded over their musical backgrounds — but they chose to take their time before getting hitched.
The American Idol alum met her future husband in the mid-2000s through a mutual a friend. While playing Us Weekly’s “Newlywed Game” in December 2015, the couple both recalled Jacobs’ pickup line as, “Hi, I’m Kyle. I’m a songwriter.”
The “Red High Heels” songstress joked about her reaction, telling Us, “I was like, ‘Great,’” with an eyeroll. “No, we started writing the next day,” she added.
The pair, however, weren’t in a rush to walk down the aisle. “I’m not ready — I’m 22, I just started out — I’m not ready to put my husband first,” Pickler confessed during the 2009 radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. “[I’ll wait until] I’m to a point into my career where I can say, ‘This can come in second and I’m ready to have a family.’”
The country singer noted at the time that she was “crazy about” Jacobs and he was “crazy about me … and I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.”
Us confirmed in June 2010 that the “More Than a Memory” cowriter got down on one knee after dating for more than two years. “It’s true!” Pickler’s rep told Us of the proposal. “She’s super excited!”
The “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” singer, for her part, reflected on the romantic moment seven years later, revealing that Jacobs popped the question on June 15 — which happens to be her grandmother’s birthday.
“One of the most special days in my life will always be June 15,” Pickler wrote via Instagram in March 2017. “On that date in 2010, Kyle and I were in Rosemary Beach, [Florida], on what he told me was just a ‘vacation’ …That evening, after a romantic dinner, we took a sunset stroll on the beach … Little did I know, he had secretly planted a small wooden box in the sand.”
The box held a journal that Jacobs “had written for me, a seashell with my grandmother’s name ‘Faye’ written on it and a beautiful engagement ring,” the musician remembered. “What was so incredible is that Kyle didn’t realize that THAT day, was also my grandmother’s birthday. It was like my beautiful angel, the one I call mom, was giving us her blessing,” she explained. “So, Kyle and I like to celebrate June 15th as a couple … Still and forever crazy in love.”
Two years later, Pickler exclusively told Us whether she had plans to expand her family with her husband.
“We have two little small puppies,” the Christmas at Graceland actress said in May 2019. “We’re dog parents for now.”
Nearly four years later, the couple were hit by tragedy when Jacobs died by apparent suicide in February 2023.
“Officers and Nashville Fire Department personnel responded and located resident Kyle Jacobs, 49, deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in an upstairs bedroom/office,” the Metropolitan Nashville Police said in a statement to Variety at the time. Pickler was reportedly home when the incident took place.
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Scroll down to see Pickler and Jacob’s love story from the beginning: