Charles Kelley’s wife, Cassie McConnell, caught the eyes of Lady A‘s founding member on the first day they met. The two got an interesting love story to tell.
Let’s get to know more about Cassie McConnell Kelley and her strong relationship with Charles Kelley.
It Was True Love at First Sight
Cassie McConnell met Charles Kelley when she was working as a publicist for Kelley’s brother Josh Kelly. Kelley said that the first time he met McConnell, it was true love at first sight. “I’m not gonna say it was like a movie, but it was like a movie,” Kelley shared.
“We just lock eyes the whole night,” the singer recalled. “We’re kind of looking at each other, and we’re like, Holy moly.’ She’s the prettiest girl that had ever paid me any attention.” After that, the two never left each other’s side.
“We just started talking. Every bar we went to, it was like us going into the corner talking. It was just love at first sight. And the very next day, I called her up and said, ‘Can I take you on an official date? I’d love to take you out to dinner.” And the rest was history.
It Was Actually Hillary Scott Who Set Them Up
It was in a popular Nashville restaurant where the sparks instantly started to fly for Charles and Cassie. But it would not have been possible without a little push from a fellow Lady A member.
“Little did we know that Hillary [Scott] kind of secretly was trying to set me up with Cassie,” Kelley admitted. “And the reason was because our keyboard player Jonathan, who still plays with us today, was dating Cassie’s sister. So all this to say, they were getting ready, and I didn’t know this was going on.”
They Have Their Share Of Growing Pains
As Lady A propelled toward stardom, the couple did have their share of growing pains. After months of dating, the two briefly broke up back in 2008. But according to Cassie McConnell, it ended up being the best thing that could have ever happened to them as a couple.
“We were broken up that whole summer of 2008,” she recalled. “It was great. I dated other people. My heart was honestly always with Charles, but I met a lot of nice people, which was nice.”
After Charles Kelley returned from a stint on the road in August of 2008, he came calling again.
“He called me one day in early August and said, ‘I’m coming back from the road, and I just wanted to talk about next steps for us,’ and I was thinking he was talking about just getting back together,” McConnell recalled. “But he was talking about getting engaged.”
She Used to Have Modeling Career
Cassie McConnell worked with a New York agent as a little girl and scored covers of two major magazines. She also landed dozens of other print gigs just within two years. But her modeling career was cut short in 1990.
The six-year-old McConnell decided she’d rather stay in Nashville and play with her friends than go back to New York.
She’s a Mom to A Little Guy
Charles Kelley proposed to the gorgeous blonde on a Christmas morning in 2008. They got married in Nashville in June the following year. It all happened shortly before “Need You Now” hit the radio, and Lady A skyrocketed to fame and landed to huge success.
Unfortunately, the couple could not find the same success as a family. The Kelleys had a hard time conceiving.
“We started trying to conceive our child a few years ago without any luck. Many months went by with negative pregnancy tests and a lot of shared frustration,” Kelley told The Boot. “I don’t know about other moms (or future moms) out there, but I just assumed that when we wanted to start a family, it would happen just like that. Well, it didn’t. We went through several years of trying before finally seeing our fertility doctor in Nashville.”
The couple took several months off to recuperate until they received the greatest news of their lives. The couple finally announced that they were having a baby in August 2015. The couple welcomed their adorable baby boy into the world on February 11, 2016. They named him Ward Charles Kelley.