Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins have been happily married since 2012, but he’ll be the first to admit that it hasn’t always been easy. The couple, who initially met in elementary school, have committed to staying together forever, even when it’s hard.

“It was even in our wedding vows. We said, ‘Divorce is not an option,'” Rhett shared with BMLG. “Because marriage is fricking hard. No matter what you do for a living, when you start to add kids into the equation, things just change. You start to love each other differently because now you have, for us, three little babies to take care of. So, making time for each other, I think, was a struggle that we dealt with, just from going, ‘Well, I need to watch the baby, you need to watch both girls. But we were supposed to have date night tonight. Well, let’s just push it until next week.'”

Part of the solution for Rhett and Akins has been to prioritize their time together, above anything else.

“We’ve finally gotten on a really great calendar deal of like, ‘Hey, Wednesday night, me and you, we’re going downstairs and we’re drinking a glass of wine and we’re watching a movie. I don’t care what else is happening. We have to reconnect,'” Rhett revealed. “That’s what marriage is about though, just growing with each other, and facing a problem head on and be brutally honest with each other, and you will come out the other side of that.”

Although Rhett has been home for much of the last year, because of the pandemic, he admits the couple has had some challenges over the years, because of his busy career, which is why they are big believers in therapy to keep their relationship strong.

“When Lauren was in Uganda … I’m back in Nashville, and I’m playing shows,” Rhett previously recalled. “I remember there was one night where she called me, and it was the second night of our Nashville dates. Literally, every one of our best friends — Lauren’s friends, my friends — were all at the show. Lauren called me, because it was like 9:00 in the morning in Uganda. All my friends were on the bus, we’re all hanging out, having a good time. She hears all of her friends in the background.

“Meanwhile, Lauren is seven months pregnant, throwing up in a bathroom in Uganda,” he continued. “At that moment, that’s when Lauren was like, ‘We are living two complete separate lives right now.’ That was a really humbling experience for me, just kind of knowing what she was dealing with over there, the sense of aloneness, while I’m kind of living life as usual, back in the States. That part was really hard for us, for sure, kind of getting over that, and going through some therapy.”