Tim McGraw Reveals The Secret To His 30-Year Marriage To Faith Hill

Tim McGraw revealed the secret to his marriage shortly after he and his wife, fellow country icon Faith Hill, celebrated their milestone 30th wedding anniversary.

McGraw and Hill, both 59, met in late 1994 in Nashville, Tennessee. They started dating about two years later, and McGraw popped the question backstage at a music festival in 1996. They quickly said "I do" in a spontaneous surprise wedding in McGraw's home state of Louisiana. The bride and groom invited their guests to a charity softball game and concert; however, family and friends quickly realized they were actually attending the couple's wedding. They tied the knot on October 6, 1996.

"Just a commitment that you want it to work," McGraw said in a new interview with Esquire. "People are so easy to walk away from troubled times or bad times, or times where you don't get along. But going into a marriage and being in a marriage for a long time, you start to realize that, yeah, there are gonna be times you don't like each other. There are times you don't get along ... but that's not a reason to walk out the door.

"We made a commitment early on in our lives that [leaving] wasn't going to be our first response to any kind of fight or any kind of disagreement," he continued in the interview. "Because the more you do that, that starts opening the door for that choice. It lessens the commitment, and it lessens the pride and respect that you have in your marriage. …The beauty, I think, in a long marriage, is you get the chance to fall in love with a new person every so often. Because people change."

McGraw posted a sweet tribute to Hill when the couple celebrated 30 years of marriage earlier this month. He wrote, in part, "I love you baby. You are my best friend. My lover. My wife. My shelter in any and every storm. And the sunrise afterwards. Many more sunrises and sunsets. Many more beautiful memories to come. I am a fortunate man."

He spotlighted Hill again during his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 18. He said at that time, "You know the story. You know our story. But what you don't know is she is the most loving, compassionate, best person I know. She's so solid, and I am more solid because of her. She is just the most beautiful person I know inside and out. And she is for many, many reasons why I'm standing here. Faith, I love you. And the only thing that can beat this night is when you're standing here, and I'm sitting there [supporting her on her Hall of Fame induction night]."

During his induction ceremony, McGraw went on to talk about his three daughters, Gracie McGraw, 29, Maggie McGraw, 28, and Audrey McGraw, 24. He told them, "you've grown into women that I am more proud of than any award or No. 1 single that I could ever have. I love you girls so much." McGraw said in an interview with ESPN last year that he's most proud of his marriage and his daughters. "they're all very successful. They're strong-willed, independent young women…we couldn't be more proud of that."