Garth Brooks’ Two Marriages – Sandy & Trisha
Garth Brooks’ First Wife, Sandy Mahl
Brooks met Mahl at Oklahoma State when he was working as a bouncer in a college bar. The two became college sweethearts and married in 1986. The union resulted in three daughters, Taylor Mayne Pearl Brooks (born 1992), August Anna Brooks (born 1994), and Allie Colleen Brooks (born 1996).
During the marriage, Garth’s career took off and he became the megastar we know today. While he was getting started in Nashville, he met fellow musician Trisha Yearwood in 1987, 13 months after Brooks married Mahl. “I felt that feeling like when you just meet your wife,” Brooks once told Ellen DeGeneres. Still, Brooks says he was committed to making his marriage to Sandy work and would try to do so for many more years.
“Being married, it’s gotta be right. This is who you went to college with and you were married in front of God and your family and everybody.” Still, at the end of the day, “There comes that time where you’re looking at the rest of your life and going, ‘How do you want to live it?,’” Brooks shared.
However, life as a touring artist and his feelings for Yearwood took their toll on the marriage. In 2000, Brooks announced his “retirement” from country music and cited raising his daughters as the reason for the decision. Garth and Sandy divorced in 2001.
Sandy is reportedly still single and has never remarried. She is a successful businesswoman as well as a wildlife rehabilitator in Oklahoma. Sandy is the Vice President and Co-Founder of Wild Heart Ranch.
According to the organization’s website:
“Sandy Brooks has been part of Wild Heart Ranch since shortly after she moved home from Nashville. A mother dog and her pups were dumped at Sandy’s gate and taken to Wild Heart Ranch for help. Sandy later called to check on them and found out they went to a wildlife rescue. Sandy, passionate about wildlife rehabilitation, jumped on board to get licensed by the State and assist with the work of raising hundreds of infant wild animals. Several years later, Sandy assisted in founding and funding the non profit so it could expand and grow and be a full time, all species, all situation facility.”