“We Butted Heads a Lot Growing Up”: Morgan Wallen Says Having a Son Helped His Relationship with His Dad

Morgan Wallen has opened up about how the wisdom and perspective he gained through having his son, Indigo Wilder, in 2020, helped to improve his relationship with his dad.

Wallen has been candid about how he was something of a wild child growing up - and he'd be the first to admit that he continued this hell-raising behaviour into adulthood, too. As a result, as he explains here, he and his father “butted heads” when he was younger.

Now, though, his own experience of becoming a father to Indigo seems to have given him a greater appreciation for how difficult it must have been for his own dad, Tommy.

While chatting to Theo Von around the release of 2025's I'm the Problem album, the discussion turns to fatherhood, with Von asking the ‘Just in Case’ hitmaker, “Does [becoming a father] make you have a different appreciation for your own dad?”

Wallen replies, “I think it probably does, you know. I mean, me and my dad, we butted heads a lot growing up, especially once I got to high school because I was kind of ridiculous”.

The ‘What I Want’ singer-songwriter explains, “And I think he was kind of ridiculous when he was that age too, so he was just trying to [say], ‘Hey, don't be like me when I was that age, you know, like, I know how this ends usually’. So we just butted heads”.

He jokes about how the idea that his parents might be right was such an incomprehensible concept when growing up, “You don't believe anything your parents say...It's not even possible! It's crazy to think now, I'm like, damn, they were right. But in my head it was not physically possible to think that they could be right. It just wasn't”.

Tommy has been candid about his own struggles with addiction when he was younger, with the Tennessee pastor touching on these issues through his Sunday Seven series on Morgan Wallen Radio, where he takes listeners through various parts of the Bible.

Through this outlet on SiriusXM's Morgan Wallen Radio, Tommy has also underlined his admiration for Wallen's evolution and growth since becoming a father six years ago.

For instance, Tommy shared how proud he was of Wallen's self-improvement, “Something that doesn't relate to music or Morgan's music that makes me really proud, again, there's no question about this answer also - it's his sobriety and the Dad he's become”.

Similarly, in his heartfelt letter penned in honour of I'm the Problem, Tommy gushed, “Success doesn’t get rid of all your problems…it takes a lot to admit that you might be one of those problems. It’s what you do about those problems that really matters. I’m proud that Morgan has had problems in his life. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be the man he is today. But I'm even more proud of what he’s done with them”.

Given how we were first introduced to Wallen through his music over a decade ago, it's both heartening and moving to see where the country titan's journey has led him.

Not only is he now one of the biggest artists on the planet - across all genres - but he's also overcome a plethora of challenges as he has risen through the country music ranks.

And it's evident from what he says in this conversation with Von that the arrival of Indigo back in 2020 was seemingly a pivotal turning-point in Wallen's personal development.