Lainey Wilson shared some insight into her life at home with fiancé Devlin “Duck” Hodges.

Wilson, 33, spoke about her relationship, “the way my career exploded,” her former job as a Hannah Montana impersonator, the advice she received from Reba McEntire and more for her cover story with PEOPLE, which published on Wednesday morning (April 15).

The Whirlwind hitmaker met Hodges, 30, a former NFL player, in 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple opted to keep their relationship out of the public eye until they made their red carpet debut at the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023 at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Wilson told PEOPLE that her fiancé “loves Lainey way more than Lainey Wilson. He understands what it means to really work hard for something that you’ve always dreamed about.” Wilson went on to share that their casual date nights entail “hanging with our dogs, drinking an old-fashioned.” She added that her husband-to-be “can cook the best steak in Nashville. He’s just that place that I get to come home to and fill my cup back up. …He makes me want to be a better person. We’re a good team.”

Wilson recalled the day Hodges proposed at late legend George Jones’ estate in Franklin, Tennessee, outside of Nashville, in February 2025. Wilson remembered Hodges “was acting a little funny,” that morning, but she “talked myself out of it [the idea that he would propose that day],” so she wouldn’t get her hopes up. Wilson told PEOPLE she “was completely shocked. …It was so special. What he said to me (in) that moment, I’ll never forget it. One of the happiest moments of my life.”

Wilson also shared a glimpse of her engagement in the trailer for Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool, a Netflix documentary that premieres on April 22. The trailer also shares the moment that Wilson opened up about family planning. She said in the clip, “I feel it in my heart that I was called to be a mama, but sometimes the Lord just has other plans. …I’m gonna freeze my eggs in April, put them babies on ice.” The documentary trailer arrived shortly after Wilson said on the Australia-based interview podcast, No Filter, “we definitely want to have a family. I think him [Hodges] and I both would be good parents and I’d love to see him be a dad. We’re gonna get married [first]. We’re gonna do the whole thing, and kids will be, you know, kids will be later. But we’re definitely gonna do it.”

“I think the world and just people in general try to give you a timeline when things should be happening, and I'm just so thankful that I was given the opportunity to do the egg retrieval and that it was successful,” Wilson told PEOPLE. “I've focused on my career for so long, and I definitely have something to show for it with my music, but I have other dreams too. …The way this business works, time completely flies,” she continued, explaining she had to find time in her busy touring schedule for the retrieval while waiting for Hodges to propose to her. “I'm scheduling things two years out. I just wanted to make sure that when the time comes and I want to [have a baby], I will hopefully be given that opportunity.”

Michael J.

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