Kimberly Williams-Paisley Broke a Rib When She First Started Dating Brad Paisley
"So that was not a great start," the Father of the Bride actress shared on TODAY.
Not many couples can say their love story began with a broken bone, but Kimberly Williams-Paisley sure can. When the Father of the Bride actress stopped by TODAY, she recalled how her now-husband, country music superstar Brad Paisley, introduced her to life on a farm when they first started dating. Williams-Paisley admitted that it "took some getting used to," especially with the horses.
Married since 2003, the "Whiskey Lullaby" singer and the beloved actress have lived in Tennessee for years with their two sons: William "Huck" Huckleberry, born in 2007, followed by Jasper Warren in 2009. But during the early days of their relationship, Williams-Paisley was "not expecting" that she'd one day become a country gal.
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Kimberly Williams-Paisley fell off a horse when she first started dating Brad Paisley
Williams-Paisley calls Tennessee home these days, but she wasn't always accustomed to the country lifestyle. The actress grew up in New York, and when she and Paisley first started dating, she broke a rib while horseback riding when he brought her to none other than George Jones' house. (Fun fact: Lainey Wilson got engaged in front of the country legend’s Tennessee home in February 2025!)
"I was not expecting to live on a farm, I was not expecting to ride horses, things like that," she told Craig Melvin during a March 2025 appearance on TODAY. "The first time I went to visit Brad when we were dating, we went to George Jones' house, which he had to explain who George Jones was ... I was a city girl. We went out riding in the woods and I actually fell off of the horse and broke a rib."
"So that was not a great start," she added. "It took some getting used to, this whole farm life thing."
With over two decades of marriage, clearly that injury didn't scare Williams-Paisley. "Tennessee feels like home," she told Southern Living in 2024. "People drive by and actually stop their cars, roll down the windows, and have a conversation in the middle of the street here. I remember thinking, 'Why are we talking right now? Don't we both have to go places?' But now, I understand that this is just what we do in the South."
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Brad Paisley says a "healthy" sense of humor is the key to their happy marriage
Whether Paisley is buying his wife a corn-themed anniversary gift or Williams-Paisley is tying up her other half with duct tape for a funny video, the couple certainly knows how to make each other laugh. In fact, Paisley said the key to their successful marriage is their shared "healthy" sense of humor.
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“We both have very healthy senses of humor. Anything I take myself too seriously on, she will gladly cut me down to size on and destroy all pre-conceived notions that I’m cool in any way,” Paisley told The Boot. "You've got to have similar outlooks and really healthy senses of humor. Pretension should be completely gone in a marriage. Actually, it should be gone before you get married! You should know somebody really well and know that they know how to take a joke and they know how to take you. That's the key — a sense of humor."
Indeed, Williams-Paisley shared on TODAY that her husband bought her a humorous-yet-handy gift when she lost her voice due to a paralyzed vocal cord, and ultimately underwent surgery to repair it. "He gave me a megaphone," Williams-Paisley told Melvin in 2025. "Isn't that romantic? And I use it. You got to get those kids downstairs for school and stuff."
