Lainey Wilson opened up about her relationship with her fiancé, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, in her new documentary — and credited him with helping her survive her meteoric rise to fame.
“I don’t know how I would have survived these last few years,” the Grammy winner, 33, said in Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool, which debuts on Netflix Wednesday, April 22. “I would come home off the road, I was so tired, and he was the only one who would see it, but I’d be crying and packing my bags again. He got to see behind the curtain.”
She continued, “He also knew how much went into doing this and how much that I have dedicated my life to it. He adds so much to my life, I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t I wanna spend the rest of my life with my best friend?’ Somebody who lifts me up and encourages me and shoots me straight, who cooks potato soup for me. This is making it. I just did not know that this was gonna be a part of the ‘making it.’”
Wilson and Hodges, 30, started dating in 2021 and got engaged in February 2025. The documentary includes interviews with Hodges that were filmed before he popped the question as well as footage of the actual proposal.
“We met just through mutual friends. I asked her to dinner one night,” Hodges recalled in the film. “I felt like I’d known her for years, really. I knew that night, like, this was the person I was gonna spend the rest of my life with. I really did. I believe that when the time’s right, we’ll do that, but I guess I need to ask her first.”
The former football player added that he had the ring at that point, noting Wilson didn’t have a “clue” that he was planning to propose.
Later in the movie, Wilson explained that her romance with Hodges works so well because he understands what it’s like to have a demanding career in the public eye.
“I think one of the things that makes our relationship so special is both of us worked really hard at young ages to reach this goal that really kind of seems impossible,” she told the cameras. “I mean, he dedicated his life to football. He knows what it’s like to work something from the ground up. And it’s crazy, ’cause when we met he was coming out of football and I was starting to kind of ramp up into music. We were able to, like, ebb and flow and understand.”
The “Hang Tight Honey” singer noted that their relationship faces logistical challenges because of all the travel her career requires, but Hodges is always supportive.
“It definitely gets hard, but again, it’s a choice. And we choose each other every single time,” Wilson said. “I don’t think that I would be able to navigate this life and a love life and everything with anybody else. We have rough patches, but this is the healthiest relationship that I have ever been in. He showed me what a real relationship is supposed to be, unconditional love and what real love is.”
Elsewhere in the documentary, the ACM Award winner revealed that she recently had her eggs frozen to ensure that she and Hodges are able to have a family one day. Wilson shared that she once thought she’d be married with children by age 27 or 28, but her musical success didn’t come as quickly as she’d hoped.
“I’m gonna be able to be a wife, I’m gonna be able to be a mama, and I’m gonna be able to do this,” she declared at the end of the documentary. “I know it’s not gonna be easy. But I’mma do it.”
Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool debuts on Netflix Wednesday, April 22.
