“It is with great sadness that Laney and I share with you the news that our sweet Oakleigh Klover Hayes was born this morning at the hospital andnow is safely in heaven. Thank you for honoring our privacy as we grieve,” the statement read about the couple who share three daughters and three sons, ranging in age from 2 to 11.
“Walker has canceled his immediate upcoming appearances to be home with Laney and their children. We ask that everyone respectfully give them their privacy in this difficult time,” the statement concluded. (Walker was nominated for breakthrough video of the year at the CMT Awards and had been slated to perform at Wednesday’s show, as well as additional events during CMA Fest this weekend.)
In 2015, at the end of his rope, Hayes decided to quit drinking (a habit “I leaned on for many, many years”) and started to write just for himself. What followed was the huge success of his single,“You Broke Up with Me,”and subsequent albumBoom.
His wife, who was his high-school sweetheart, has long been Hayes’ most ardent champion, and his success over the past year has left them both giddy. “Our life,” hetold PEOPLE in December, “is so drastically filled with hope and actual things happening and no longer just, ‘I believe in you,’ or, ‘Just hang in there’ or, ‘Maybe next year.’ ”
Hayes added that his children are “so cute about” his career. “They look at me like I’mAdam Levine,” he said. “They’re just kids, but them being proud of me means so much to me, and I can tell that they are.”
The Mobile, Alabama, native alsoopened up to PEOPLEin July about life with his three sons and three daughters, admitting he and Laney originally planned on having four children but “just kept going.”
“Everybody thinks I’m crazy having six kids and chasing this dream,” he said, noting of what he tells his wife, ” ‘You’re crazier than anybody because you married me, and you’re still around for all this.’ ”
Added the “Craig” singer of Laney, “She has a way of looking at me and remembering what’s best about me … even though it’s nowhere close to coming out. Her faith inmy gifts and my talentsare beyond my own faith in them.”
In April, Hayes revealed toTaste of Countrythat he was substituiting exercise for drinking, and that his kids are a huge help in that.
“I have a lot of replacements that I’ve found for alcohol,” Hayes said, also giving reading and songwriting as examples of activities he likes to participate in.
source: people.com
