Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood’s friendship with President Carter spanned years: ‘They’ve inspired us’
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood paid their respects to former President Carter and honored their friendship with the American leader Thursday.
Brooks and Yearwood dressed in all black while singing John Lennon's "Imagine" at the end of Carter's funeral at Washington National Cathedral Jan. 9. The couple maintained a friendship with the former president throughout the years.
"President Carter, the legacy you and Rosalynn have left us is as beautiful as the life you lived," Brooks said in a statement shared shortly after Carter's death.
"Thank you for your lifetime of service to our country and the world. You inspired us not just by what you said, but by what you built. We love you."
AN 'EXTRAORDINARY MAN': FORMER PRESIDENT CARTER LIES IN STATE AT CAPITOL AHEAD OF STATE FUNERAL
The former president had reportedly requested that Brooks and Yearwood perform the song at the funeral. Fox News Digital reached out to the Carter Center for comment.
Brooks and Yearwood performed the same duet at Rosalynn Carter's funeral in November 2023. Rosalynn's service was held at Emory University's Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta. The couple dressed in all black for the somber occasion.
At the time, Brooks spoke highly of Rosalynn and shared how close the former first lady and his wife had become over the years.
"They were inseparable," he explained at a press conference, according to "Today." "Miss Yearwood called her 'quiet warrior.''
He shared his own admiration for Carter's wife, telling reporters, "If you ever got to hang around her, President Carter always steals the show, and then when it comes time for her to speak, she’ll walk to the mic. What she says is very quiet but yet very powerful."
Brooks and Yearwood met the Carters working for Habitat for Humanity. The former president and his wife first began working with the charity in 1984. The couple led a renovation project on a 19-unit apartment building in New York City.
The country music stars became involved with Habitat for Humanity years later, after Hurricane Katrina left destruction in New Orleans.
"After Katrina in '07, we fell in love with Habitat for Humanity. We knew we loved the Carters, and we fell more in love with them just getting a chance to work alongside them," Yearwood told People magazine in 2023. "We love what Habitat for Humanity is about — spreading love. It is about creating community.
"To whom much is given, much is expected," she added. "We’ll never fill their shoes, but we’re doing the best we can."
Brooks and Yearwood were also "inspired" by Carter and Rosalynn's 77-year marriage.
"They’ve inspired us in a lot of ways, in the ways you expect — humanity, humbleness, work ethic. But they’ve also inspired us by their example as husband and wife," Brooks told People in 2023.
"We worked beside them for the last 15 years, and you notice right away they bicker back and forth about the right way to do things. That kind of works for us too!"
In 2019, Brooks and Yearwood performed at the Grand Ole Opry with Carter as part of a Habitat for Humanity project. Carter and his wife were in Nashville to build houses with the organization.
"We get more out of Habitat than we’ve ever put into it," the former president said during the closing ceremony at the Opry, according to Opry.com. It was one of Carter's last visits to the legendary Ryman Auditorium.
Carter wasn't only close with Brooks and Yearwood. The former leader of the United States had a handful of celebrity confidants. He spent time with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Greg Allman, Johnny Cash and Jimmy Buffett, to name a few.
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Brooks and Yearwood recently attended the 2024 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Week Project to celebrate Carter's 100th birthday in St. Paul, Minnesota. Habitat for Humanity hosted the week-long event, which focused on building houses and raising awareness for affordable housing.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
"He definitely wants to know that we're working, and this is why we're here. He has a legacy of service, and he never stopped serving," Yearwood told People magazine in October.
"He's not physically standing here building, swinging a hammer. But we feel his presence and Ms. Rosalynn’s presence strongly. We're just two volunteers, but everybody who's on this site feels that responsibility to make them proud."
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023 and died Dec. 29, 2024.
The former president died surrounded by his family roughly 22 months after entering hospice care at his home in Georgia. Carter battled metastatic melanoma in 2015. His skin cancer was treated with surgery, radiation and immunotherapy at the age of 90.