The 58-year-old artist’s rise to fame was examined in the two-night special Garth Brooks: The Road I’m On. Part of the A&E documentary involved in-depth interviews with those closest to the “Friends in Low Places” singer, including his ex-wife Sandy Mahl, who Garth was married to between 1986 and 2001.

Sandy is a talented songwriter herself and is even credited on Garth’s songs “I’ve Got a Good Thing Going” and “That Summer.” But beyond being an artist, Sandy is also the mother of Garth’s three daughters, Taylor, 27, August, 25, and Allie, 23.

Looking back on his earlier days in the music industry, Garth told Us Weekly that he was constantly traveling during his and Sandy’s marriage. And when the country star made it big, Sandy said in the documentary that things grew increasingly difficult for the pair.

“People constantly wanting your attention and yanking and pulling on him,” she explained. “He’d be gone eight to 10 weeks at a time. He’d come home, [and] there would be number-one parties, or shows, or CMAs, or ACMs, American Music Awards, so it was constantly going. But we both grew apart really, really quickly.”

“I don’t think either of us had stopped to think about how this would change our lives,” she later added.

After watching Sandy tell her side of the story in the documentary, Garth said he was “really surprised” to hear what she had to say about their relationship.