“I was raised on a farm with a garden, and we ate a lot of fresh vegetables, but you just get away from that when you’re touring,” Yearwood says. “You have to remind yourself that you really love this food and put the effort into making it.” Now that she’s been home, that’s exactly what’s happened—sans a few splurges. “I’m not saying that we haven’t had a McDonald’s burger,” Yearwood jokes. “But that is rare.” While they’re not performing in front of crowds, she and Brooks have done some storytelling of their own through social media concerts and Facebook Live events. Yearwood has also focused on bringing a new collection with Williams-Sonoma to life. “It’s probably one of the things I’m most proud of—in a career of things that I’m very proud of,” she says, of a dinnerware line inspired by her mother, Gwen, who died of breast cancer in 2011. “My mom was fearless. She taught me to try anything,” including finding the courage to begin a second career as a home chef, in a world filled with professionally trained colleagues. Yearwood spoke with us about the kitchen confidence she gained from her mother, her wellness philosophy and the secret to a happy, healthy 15-year marriage. What are some traits that your mom passed along to you? My mom was so adventurous and so vital. And she enjoyed every moment. I never heard her say anything negative about herself. I never heard her say she wished she didn’t look a certain way or didn’t have wrinkles. She embraced all of it. I try really hard to have that attitude. I’m also not a chef; I’m a home cook like my mom. She always said, “The worst thing that can happen is [the meal] doesn’t work out—and then you can always order pizza. Don’t stress over it.” She gave me confidence to give things a shot, and I’ve become a better cook over the years because of that. You’ve said that you have a love/hate relationship with fitness. What does that look like now? When you’re younger, it’s all about what size jeans you’re in. As you get older, your priorities shift and the things that matter shift. [Now], it’s more about making sure you feel good. I’m in a business that allows you to stay young, so I don’t feel my age. But going into the next 20 years, I want to be as healthy as possible. For me, it’s about what you’re doing for the inside of your body. I strength train three times a week and work multiple muscle groups in the same exercises. Then, at least two days a week, I try to do something that benefits my mind, body and spirit. I hike with my rescue dogs. It’s cardio, but it also clears the mind to meditate, talk to God, just be outside. How have you built your own confidence? As a woman in my late 50s, I feel comfortable in my own skin. When I see a young woman who seems confident in herself, I’m just like, Man, I envy that. It took me a long time to get here, and [that might be because of] the pressure we put on ourselves. Some days I feel 25 and some days I feel 56. This morning my elbow hurt, and I have no idea why! But you take it as it comes. And I wouldn’t want to go back. It’s a good place to be. How has being in the public eye affected that? I’m a public figure, so people see me. And people are going to comment on your appearance, whether you’re 20 pounds heavier or 20 pounds lighter, so you kind of learn to let that go. I feel like women especially, we’re pretty much our own worst critics. But feeling strong and healthy is a really powerful thing. What’s your biggest weakness? My weakness is decadent food. Sometimes I do great; sometimes I don’t. I have the blessing and curse of being a pretty good cook, so I can make all the decadent things. But I also challenge myself to make the healthier things taste good. I love to roast a huge pan of root vegetables. Butternut squash, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots. The more you roast a vegetable, the sweeter and more caramelized it gets. I make a big pot of rice or risotto to go with that. That’s comfort food for us and will last a while. Does Garth cook too? Yes, he makes a pasta salad (and I’ve never seen anybody use that much olive oil), but it’s really good. He likes this breakfast bowl that’s everything you would eat for breakfast, but in a bowl—eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and cheese. It even has tortellini in it. If we’re going to eat that, we’ve likely slept in and that will probably be all we eat that day—before a big nap. How would you explain your relationship with Garth? Our marriage is a great love but also a great friendship. We laugh a lot and there’s a lot of mutual respect. He is kind of perfect. He’s neater than I am. His closet looks way better than mine. He’s always been respectful. My only pet peeve is that he whistles—all the time. Right now, it’s the theme song from The Dating Game. If I need him to change (literally) his tune, I’ll sing a line of something else and then he’ll be on that. At least I can change the station without him knowing! Any mantras you live by? Garth and I try to live by the 80/20 rule, where 80 percent of the time we try to do the right thing and 20 percent of the time we splurge. Sometimes that ratio is backwards. It comes and goes. Right now, I’m in a good place. How have you spent your rare free time during quarantine? I learned to crochet when I was in high school, and it’s therapeutic for me. It also helps me at night to not eat if my hands are busy, so I’m always working on an afghan. We have three grown daughters [Taylor, 28, August, 26, and Allie, 24, from Brooks’ previous marriage], and I’ve made it a project to make one for each girl. I’m working on the second one right now. It’s the 30th anniversary of your first single, “She’s in Love With the Boy.” What’s that like? It came out when I was 26, so you can do the math [laughs]. I still have little girls who love and sing that song, and I’m like, “You weren’t born when the song came out!” Their moms have kept it alive for them. You’re lucky as an artist to have a song that stays with you that long. Post pandemic, what are you looking forward to most? Getting out and playing music again. Garth and I, it’s what we do, and we haven’t done it this past year for the first time in 30 years. It’s not just something we love to do for other people—although we do love that—it’s also what feeds our souls and is something that we really deeply miss. This has reminded us of how lucky we are, and I will never take for granted getting to hug somebody or doing a live show again. What else are you cooking lately? I make a sweet potato burger that Garth absolutely loves. I wrote a cookbook this year while we were home, so I was testing a lot of recipes on Garth. One of the things that he asked me was to come up with a breakfast lasagna. We love breakfast for every meal of the day, so I worked on a breakfast lasagna recipe that’s going to be in the new book. That became one of our favorite things. Next, Trisha Yearwood Shares Her Family’s Most Treasured Holiday Traditions
