Garth Brooks ‘declined’ Trisha Yearwood offer to officially take his last name: 'Tradition doesn't count here'

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Dolly Parton reveals why she has to be nice to ACM Awards co-host Garth Brooks

Dolly Parton joked she has to be nice to ACM Awards co-host Garth Brooks because his wife Trisha Yearwood will be in the audience. 

Garth Brooks said this week that he declined Trisha Yearwood’s offer last year to officially take his name. 

"She was sweet enough for our anniversary last year to have the documents where her official last name was Brooks," Brooks said of his wife of 17 years during a press conference for his TuneIn radio partnership, Taste of Country reported Thursday. 

He added, "I declined it."

The country power couple married in 2005 and Yearwood became a bonus mom to his three grown daughters from his first marriage. 

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Garth Brooks said he "declined" wide Trisha Yearwood's offer last year to take his last name.  (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

"Jack Yearwood had two daughters: That Yearwood name is Trisha," Brooks said of Yearwood’s father. "I’d be fine changing my name to Yearwood. Tradition doesn’t count here. What counts is when you have two celebrities, don’t have one swallow the other."

And while Brooks said he plans to remain behind the scenes with his TuneIn radio channel, he said he hoped to launch a station focused on women that could feature Yearwood. 

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have been married for 17 years.  (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

"I’m really hoping to launch a station called BABE," he said. "It’s the bad a-- b----es of entertainment. I’d love to see her heavily involved in that channel."

The "Friends in Low Places" singer admitted last week that he wasn’t always a great husband. 

"I sucked at being a husband, I was horrible at it," he told Billboard of his first marriage to Sandy Maul that ended with a messy divorce in 2000. "I was horrible at being a dad. I had to get my s--t together."

Garth Brooks said he would have been "fine" taking Yearwood's name, but he was more concerned that one partner's name doesn't "swallow the other."  (John Shearer/Getty Images for the Country Music Association)

He added, "I was on the front page of the USA Today for being a bad husband and man. I’d have never survived that if there had been social media, ever." 

Regarding his marriage to Yearwood, he said "the person you’re with [does make] a huge difference in your life."

The "She’s in Love With the Boy" songstress told E! News on the ACM Awards red carpet that her relationship with Brooks is "always a first date, you know? It just really is" when asked about their secrets for a long-lasting marriage.

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"Come on, you can see why I’m in love with her," Brooks added.