Lainey Wilson opened up about music, life and more during a 90-minute conversation on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast that aired on Thursday (Aug. 28).
The two stars shared childhood memories and anecdotes from their shared home state of Louisiana.
But Wilson also looked ahead: She spoke about new music on the horizon, shared details about her engagement to Devil “Duck” Hodges and revealed how she wants to raise her future children.
The best moments from Wilson’s This Past Weekend appearance were a little bit of everything.
From hilarious moments of beauty pageants gone wrong to the time Hardy took her to a strip club, Wilson’s stories and memories prove that she’s always been the same gritty, colorful Louisiana girl still know and love today.
Keep reading for five highlights from Wilson’s conversation with Theo Von.
She Tried Beauty Pageants as a Kid — And Won One!
Lainey Wilson Beauty Pageants
To hear her talk about it, Wilson was more interested in showing horses than she was in competing in beauty pageants as a kid.
But the singer’s mom, who had been in beauty pageants growing up, encouraged her to give it a try.
“My mama back in the day was the Farm Bureau Queen, and so she was like, ‘You know, I’d love for you to be in the Farm Bureau pageant,” Wilson remembers.
It was the only pageant she ever participated in — but she won!
Wilson credits that success to the answer she gave to the onstage question: “What does agriculture mean to you?”
“I think I had one line, and I think that was what really sealed the deal. I said, ‘Agriculture is the backbone of America.’ And then I think they said, ‘Give it to her,'” Wilson recounts, cracking up.
Wilson’s sister Janna did more pageants than she did. On the podcast, the singer shared a hilarious story of the time her sister let a curse word fly onstage.
“She was doing the Watermeon Pageant, I think that’s in Ruston, La. And she gets up to the microphone and she goes, ‘I’m Janna Wilson, contesca-cent number three,” Wilson recounted, intentionally stumbling over the words.
When Janna realized she’d flubbed her line, she said, still into the microphone, “S–t!”
“She definitely didn’t win,” Wilson adds with a laugh.
Wilson + Her Childhood Horse Just Had Their Last Ride Together
Lainey Wilson Horse Last Ride
Tex — Wilson’s beloved childhood horse — is still alive and well, but he’s getting on in years.
“I have a horse that’s turning 31 this year,” she told Theo Von during the podcast episode.
“He’s good, but I think I just got the last ride on him,” she goes on to say, explaining that Tex lives in Louisiana, along with his “best buddy” Hollywood, who was her sister Janna’s horse growing up.
According to PetMD, the average lifespan for a domesticated horse is about 25-30 years. Both Tex and Hollywood — who Wilson says is a couple years younger than Tex — have already lived longer than average for their species.
“I got him when I was nine years old,” Wilson reminisces. “Taught me a lot. He did. How to stay in the saddle, you know?”
Wilson also said Tex was “not broke,” meaning that he hadn’t learned how to wear a saddle and ride with a person, when the family brought him home.
Online Scammers Pretending to Be Wilson Have Broken Up Some Marriages
Lainey Wilson Online Scammers
Like most other big stars, Lainey Wilson has been the subject of her fair share of online scams.
Read More: Lainey Wilson Warns Fans to Steer Clear of Weight Loss Gummy Scams
Scammers have used her name and likeness without permission to promote products including weight loss gummies, and others have flat-out pretended to be the singer in order to get gullible fans to send them money.
Wilson told Von that impersonators have even pretended to be her to perpetrate romance scams so harmful, they broke up marriages.
“It’s really bad. I’ve ruined a couple marriages on accident. Didn’t even mean to,” she says.
She says she gets messages from people saying things like “My husband of 30 years believes he’s talking to you.”
“I’m like, ‘Oh no,'” Wilson continues. “There’s literally nothing I can do besides telling y’all about it.”
“It’s like, a certain age group of — it’s probably lonely people, right?” she goes on to say. “Whether they’re married or not, they’re lonely. And I don’t know — [scammers] just find the right person. They must try it to a million people to find the right person to actually convince.”
She’s Hoping to Stay in Nashville to Raise Her Future Kids
Lainey Wilson Future Kids
Wilson and her fiancé Devlin “Duck” Dodges haven’t even gotten that far into wedding planning yet, but she still fielded a few questions about how they plan to raise their future kids.
The singer said she expects to raise her children in Nashville, noting that “even if music weren’t a thing, I think they’ve got good schools.”
Wilson and Hodges both grew up in small towns. And even though Nashville is a bigger city than where either of them were raised, she says that it’s still possible to find spots on the outskirts of Music City where it feels like you’re out in the country.
She’s hoping to incorporate some of the elements of her own childhood into her future kids’ upbringings, too.
“I want to raise my kids like I [was raised], like, playing in the dirt,” she explains. “I just want them to be outside and do the things that we grew up doing. You know what I’m saying? And enjoy those things.”
Hardy Once Took Her to a Strip Club as an End-of-Tour Gift
Lainey Wilson Strip Club
The wildest anecdote from Wilson’s Theo Von podcast episode — perhaps predictably — revolved around Wilson’s one-time duet partner and country music friend, Hardy.
Most fans likely remember that Hardy and Wilson teamed up for “Wait in the Truck,” a hit that came out relatively early on in Wilson’s stardom.
Wilson also toured with Hardy in the fall of 2023, and he thanked her with a truly unique end-of-tour gift: A trip to Uncle Buck’s Booby Bungalow in Huntsville, Ala.
Yes, that’s a strip club.
“He gave me a hundred ones and was like, ‘Have fun,'” Wilson remembers.
She also mentioned that Uncle Buck’s — which is listed on its Instagram as a “Country/Western Cabaret” — does something called Biscuits & Gravy Night, which actually doesn’t involve serving patrons plates of biscuits and gravy.
“They’re rolling around in the gravy and people are throwing the biscuits,” Wilson says.
While she wasn’t there for Biscuits & Gravy Night — “We had just missed it,” Wilson notes — the experience was still an unforgettable experience.
Read More: Hardy Explains Why He Bought Lainey Wilson a Gun
That’s not the only unusual present Hardy has given Wilson. After “Wait in the Truck” went No. 1 at country radio, he got her a gun to commemorate the milestone.
Peek Inside Lainey Wilson’s Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit
A new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit, ‘Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails’ follows Wilson’s journey from a child in Baskins, La. to her rise as one of country music’s biggest modern-day superstars. Flip through the gallery below to get a peek at some of the artifacts and items included in the exhibit.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
