Toby Keith Forbade Daughter Krystal Keith From Tagging Along on Military Tours

Growing up with a father who lost an eye while serving in the Korean War, Toby Keith always respected the troops. After losing his dad to a fatal car accident in March 2001, however, the Oklahoma native dedicated a good chunk of his career to honoring them. The late country star performed for more than 250,000 service members stationed across the globe in 18 USO tours. Still, Keith was a father before he was a musician or patriot. Country singer Krystal Keith recently revealed that her dad refused to let her join him on his stints overseas.

Toby Keith “Went Into Dad Mode”

Toby Keith broke onto the country music scene with 1993’s chart-topping “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” He would go on to become one of the genre’s brightest stars until his death this past February.

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The two-time Entertainer of the Year loved nothing more than performing with his daughter. In 2004, they teamed up for a cover of Inez and Charlie Foxx’s “Mockingbird,” off his album Greatest Hits 2. Krystal Keith joined her dad onstage at that year’s Country Music Association awards ceremony for a live performance of the song.

While the “How Do You Like Me Now” hitmaker was usually more than happy to share the spotlight with his daughter, he drew the line at military tours. Despite Krystal’s pleas, Toby Keith shut down any ideas of her joining him in the Middle East.

“He went into, like, dad mode,” Krystal recently told Fox News. “He was like, ‘No, no, this is really important work I’m going to do, and no, my daughter is not – It’s not something where … I’m going to put you in danger so you can go experience this.’”

Krystal Keith Is Now a Country Star In Her Own Right

Krystal Keith followed in her father’s footsteps when she inked a record deal with Show-Dog Universal Music in 2013. The same year, she dropped her debut album Whiskey & Lace, produced by her father.

Even then, Toby Keith remained firmly in “dad mode.”

“Then I became an artist… as much as it meant to him, and he knew how important it was for him, he was still like, ‘Hard pass on my daughter going to Afghanistan right now,’ because he had been shot,” Krystal 39, told Fox News. “I mean, his helicopters had been shot at. He had been in the middle of shows when mortar fire came down.”

Featured photo courtesy of Krystal Keith via Instagram