Rory Feek admits it was difficult for him after his adult daughter Hope told him that she was gay and in love with her best friend. It seemed to pull against his strong Christian faith and came just after another personal tragedy.
But Feek said it was his faith that ultimately helped him accept his daughter.
The country singer, who at the time had just lost his wife to a battle with cancer, says he didn’t react well at first.
“My first reaction was not the best one because it was such a challenge to my faith,” he said in an interview with the Today show. “I didn’t really know how to react.”
Hope said she was worried that her deeply religious father would reject her after she revealed that she is a lesbian. At first, he didn’t give much of an answer at all.
“I really didn’t know the answer to that. You know, I’m afraid that I, at first thought, was ‘I don’t know,’” Rory said. “What happens when your daughter says, ‘I’d like to marry my friend Wendy at the farm?’ And she’s waited her whole life, her whole life for this moment.”
It was a trying time for the entire family, as Rory’s wife Joey had just recently died after a long and very public battle with cancer. It left Rory as a single dad to their young daughter Indiana.
Earlier this year, Rory spoke to CBS News about the struggle over whether to continue his music career after his wife’s death. He and Joey had released an album of hymns shortly before her death, and Rory stopped performing after she died. He told CBS News that he was struggling with whether to ever resume his music career.
The personal turmoil may have contributed to the tension with Hope. Ultimately, Rory Feek came to accept his daughter and support her relationship with Wendy, saying he is “learning to love her even when our faith and choices don’t line up exactly.”
“It’s a challenging situation. But if it shows up at your house, you might look at it differently,” he told Today. “The biggest thing that it’s shown me is that if I were going to be more Christlike, wouldn’t it be this? Wouldn’t I love greater?”
Rory Feek says Christian faith increased his love for gay daughter https://t.co/vKUgftil3Z
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 2, 2018
Rory Feek is now not only accepting the relationship but will be hosting Hope and Wendy’s wedding at the Feek family farm. Rory’s daughter Indiana will serve as the flower girl.
