Luke Bryan is opening up about the tragic loss of his sister, Kelly, who passed away in 2007. Her death came shortly after Bryan made his Grand Ole Opry debut. It’s a loss Bryan still mourns, especially after his brother, Chris, was killed in a car accident in 1996.
When Kelly passed away, she left behind her husband, Ben Cheshire, plus two daughters, Jordan and Kris, and a son, Til, who was just three years old.
Bryan still vividly recalls Kelly’s funeral, and how heartbreaking it was for him.
“I don’t know how to vocalize what I was feeling,” Bryan says on All There Is with Anderson Cooper (via Country Now). “I mean the nausea. I did not want to go in the funeral home and see my sister. I was just really… not processing this well. And the fact that I knew at 5:00 PM, I was going to walk in that funeral home and have to deal with this, I just wasn’t doing well with it.”
The 49-year-old reveals that her service ended up being one of the most spiritual experiences of his life.
“We get in a car, and it’s the sensation – you get in the car, and you know that this has got to happen,” Bryan recalls. “When I walked in the room – and I’m a pretty spiritual guy, and I’m pretty grounded in my belief in Christ and Christianity — I would say it was the first time in my life I felt a spirit of another world take away my burden in that room. When I saw her, it was almost like a pressure valve released.”
“I can’t explain it,” he adds. “It was truly like she let – she set me free in that room. My mother did not have that experience, and I think I was the only one in the family that had that experience.”
What Happened to Luke Bryan’s Sister, Kelly
Kelly was found passed away in her home. Otherwise healthy, her death is still somewhat of a mystery.
“I’ve never really explained what happened to my sister,” Bryan says. “There’s some misinformation out there on the internet, and I think some people kind of wonder what happened, and think that we’ve tried to cover it up.”
“But there is a very very small percentage of people that die for no reason in the world,” he continues. “And it’s called Sudden Death Syndrome. And that’s essentially what they described my sister’s death as. She was in her home doing her laundry, and it was like somebody just turned the switch off on her. It was just tragic beyond words.”
Bryan reveals that the autopsy did not reveal anything like an “aneurysm or an embolism or a blood clot of some kind,” leaving the family with more questions than answers.
“She had a pretty severe orbital bone injury,” Bryan reflects. “So whether she fainted or not, I think she may have went into the floor and kind of knocked herself out. My nephew was three at the time. And I just think I think if someone could have been there, maybe her chances of surviving would have been a lot better.”
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Luke Bryan and His Wife Caroline Raise Til After the Loss of His Brother-in-Law
Tragedy struck the family again in 2014, when Bryan’s brother-in-law Ben also passed away. A minor at the time, Til immediately went to live with Bryan and his wife, Caroline, along with their two sons, Bo and Tate, while Til coped with his grief.
“It’s just what you do as family,” Bryan says. “I guess you go into like a tribe instinct, and you do what you can to kind of make it … But Til, it wasn’t necessarily an adoption. More like, we had to sign paperwork that he’s our responsibility. And watching him come into our home, and have to grieve the loss of his dad, was really, really tough. And to watch my wife step up and do the work that she had to do was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.”
Although the “Country Song Came On” singer wishes he could have his sister and brother-in-law in his life, he is grateful for the time he gets to spend with Til, and the ability to watch him grow up.
“My oldest Bo and Til, it is all brotherly,” Bryan says. “It looks and smells just like two brothers complaining and fighting and wrestling and giving each other a hard time. But with Tate, my 15-year-old and Til, they have a really special bond, and I can’t imagine a household where Til would have never grown up in it. It’s just been a blessing and a silver lining to have him, and to watch the girls go through life and become mothers … and get through life daily has been pretty inspiring too. I’m really proud of them.”
Photo Credit: CMA / John Russell