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Luke Combs opened up about getting “past the guilt” of missing the birth of his second son.
Combs joined Jay Shetty on a new episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, a mental health podcast featuring interviews with experts, celebrities and other guests. In the episode that premiered on Monday (March 2), Combs candidly spoke about having to miss the birth of one of his sons, and how he plans to approach that conversation with him later in life.
The country superstar and his wife, Nicole Combs, are parents to three young sons. They welcomed their firstborn, Tex Lawrence Combs, on Father’s Day in June 2022. Tex was only 5 months old when Combs learned his wife was pregnant with Baby No. 2. Beau Lee Combs arrived in August 2023, while the Fathers & Sons artist was on tour in Australia.
“We have our first son, Tex, and then five months later, we find out we’re pregnant with our next, Beau, and so that was a whirlwind,” Combs told Shetty. “I mean, like, you know, you’re having a 5-month-hold and you’re figuring out how to be a parent, have a baby, and then all of a sudden, you have another baby. …When Beau was born, Tex couldn’t even walk yet. So, it was like my wife’s got one on the hip and one in the cradle, and it’s like, I’m out. I’m in Australia when Beau is born, and that’s like crushing, devastating...
“My whole identity is that no matter what, I’m going to prioritize my wife and my children over my job, over what I do. They’re my No. 1 priority. I want them to know that,” Combs continued. “And then here I am having this moment of like, ‘well, guess who wasn’t there?’ The guy that says he’s always going to be there and that will do anything to be there is the only guy that’s not there. And so, it was a huge blow. ...And it’s nobody’s fault, obviously. It’s just the way of, you know, it was the universe’s decision.”
Combs said Beau was born about two and a half weeks early. The singer-songwriter was just a few days away from flying home. “And everyone’s like, ‘(why did you plan) the tour that close?’ The tour is already planned. We find out the tour is planned before we even find out we’re pregnant with Beau. So, there’s no canceling on the tour. It’s sold out before we even know we’re pregnant. So, you have this obligation to your fans to go and do that and put the shows on and power through. And I didn’t tell anyone that until after I got home, you know what I mean? Like I kept it to myself because there was never this big — I didn’t want it to be this big ‘woe is me’ PR campaign of, ‘look how sad I am’ and, ‘look how hard it’s been.’”
Combs explained that he woke up around 8 a.m. in Sydney, Australia, and noticed Nicole had texted him two hours earlier. Combs said he called her right away. Nicole was at the hospital with her sister, mom and other relatives. Combs said he’s “eternally grateful” to have their support system. Beau quickly made his arrival, and Combs knew there was “no way” he could’ve booked a flight and made it home in time.
“Knowing that she had people that she trusted and cared about being around was a huge relief for me. It didn’t make it any easier, but it was better,” Combs said on the podcast. “And so, that really shifted my focus of ‘what happens from here? How do I make changes based on this thing?’ I dread the conversation with my son at some point because obviously he doesn’t know that. He’s two and a half. He’s not maybe going to understand that for five years, you know. But I dread that conversation of (him) being like, ‘well, Dad, you made this record about being such a good dad, and then you weren’t there when I was born. But you were there for Tex, and you were there for the next kid. And why was I the only one that you weren’t there for?’
“I worry about that a lot. And I think that it will be OK,” Combs said, later adding that he hopes to have the first conversation before Beau learns about it himself. “But I haven’t quite yet processed when I have that conversation. Obviously, not any time soon. But when I do have that conversation, how do I, you know, say that to a 7- or 8-year-old and it be meaningful? I think it’s bigger than one conversation. …I’m sure it will be a lifetime of conversations, and I’m hopeful that he’ll be understanding. I’m sure that he will if I do my job right and my wife does her job right. I think he will be if he turns out to be a good person in the way I hope that he does.
“I think I’m mentally past the guilt of it now,” Combs said. “I beat myself up about it for a while. I couldn’t even talk about it for a while without getting super emotional about it. and I think you just have to move forward and…you just have to cross that bridge when you come to it.”
Combs and Nicole announced Baby No. 3’s arrival on February 19. Nicole wrote in the caption of a sweet Instagram post: “Happy due date to the littlest Combs BOY! We’ve loved soaking up these last few weeks of newborn snuggles.” Chet Wiley Combs joined big brothers Tex and Beau. Combs is one of several artists welcoming a baby into the family in 2026. Thomas Rhett recently welcomed Baby No. 5 with wife Lauren Akins (the first baby boy in the family). Dylan Marlowe and his wife, Natalie Marlowe, welcomed twins. Parker McCollum, Emmy Russell (whose grandmother is late legend Loretta Lynn), iHeartRadio’s Bobby Bones and others will also welcome babies this year. See the list of pregnancy announcements here.
Find the full episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty on iHeartRadio here.