- Tim McGraw revealed it took him three days “to get up the nerve” to ask Faith Hill to play his on-screen wife in Yellowstone and 1883.
- “She said sure, ‘I’d be glad to do it. It’d be fun,’” he recalled.
- The pair bring their strong relationship dynamic to the small screen, which McGraw says has been great for their characters and their real life marriage.
The cast of 1883—the historic and gritty prequel of the ranching drama Yellowstone—is star-studded enough to make anyone’s heart flutter. The series holds space for Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sam Elliot, Billy Bob Thornton, Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, and more. But McGraw admits that, of all his co-stars, he was most nervous to perform alongside his wife.
The country couple play James and Margaret, patriarch and matriarch of the Dutton family. Series writer and Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan always pictured McGraw for the part of James. And when he first asked the singer to film a couple of Yellowstone flashback episodes (which snowballed into his 1883 role), he asked him to extend the invitation to Hill.
“Taylor called and goes, ‘Hey man, I want you to be in Yellowstone. You’re going to play the original Dutton who founded the Yellowstone ranch,” McGraw recalled in an interview with his label, Big Machine Label Group, per CMT. “He said, ‘You’re also going to have a wife. Do you think Faith would be interested in playing your wife?’”
McGraw admitted that he was hesitant to relay the message, and it took him three days “to get up the nerve to ask her.” Thankfully, she happily accepted the offer.
“She said sure, ‘I’d be glad to do it. It’d be fun,’” McGraw continued. “So, we did two flashback episodes. The first thing we shot, it was just so much fun. We’re going so fast, and the shootout was so great. I remember gettin’ off the horse and walkin’ around going, ‘I don’t care if I do any other film for the rest of my life, I wanna do westerns from now on.’”
Lucky for him, his wish came true, and 1883 launched its 10-episode first season in December on Paramount Plus.
McGraw and Hill celebrated 25 years of marriage in October, and they’re thoroughly enjoying playing a married couple on TV. “We found a part of what makes our relationship solid and magnify that [in the show],” McGraw explained of their characters in a behind-the-scenes interview. “I think it really works well for our relationship on-screen and off-screen.”
To honor their latest anniversary, Hill shared some mementos from their time together on Instagram, including a pair of jeans she wore in a music video they filmed, and a pair of red cowboy boots she’s had since seventh grade. “The metaphor about all this stuff is,” she said in the clip. “Through the good times, bad times ... it’s all about love—period—and respect.”
On the same day, McGraw shared their engagement story. He asked her to marry him (and it wasn’t the first time) while standing in front of a mirror before being called on stage to perform. When he returned, “Yes, I'm gonna be your wife,” was written in lipstick across the reflective glass.
“We still have that mirror,” he said in the video. “And that was the best day of my life, that’s for sure.”
We can’t wait to continue to watch the pair’s love grow, both in real life and on-screen, as 1883 unfolds.
Kayla Blanton is a freelance writer-editor who covers health, nutrition, and lifestyle topics for various publications including Prevention, Everyday Health, SELF, People, and more. She’s always open to conversations about fueling up with flavorful dishes, busting beauty standards, and finding new, gentle ways to care for our bodies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University with specializations in women, gender, and sexuality studies and public health, and is a born-and-raised midwesterner living in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two spoiled kitties.
