Willie Nelson’s Best Friend Is Also His Partner: “When Everybody Else Is Against You, She’s Usually There”

At 91 years of age, and boasting a career spanning almost seven decades—and extending past that, if he has his way—Outlaw singer Willie Nelson has met countless personalities. But Nelson calls one person his very best friend in the world, and it just so happens he’s married to that very same remarkable ally.

Back in May of 2023, Nelson participated in an interview conducted by the Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar, of Van Halen fame. During their chat, which was part of the Rock & Roll Road Trip series, the two chatted over coffee on Nelson’s tour bus before Hagar leveled a particularly real, vulnerable question at Nelson.

Willie Nelson sings high praises for his very best friend, his wife

While many questions probe into Nelson’s music career, his promotion of marijuana, or even his animal rescue, Hagar took a different approach. “I wrote down a bunch of crazy questions here,” he shared during his chat with Nelson, “but, you know, just talking to you is an honor. But—who’s your best friend in this world today?”

The question may have been different from what Nelson is usually asked, but he still had an answer ready.

“Probably the old gal back there, you know,” he replied, gesturing to the back of the bus. “Ann Marie.” Hagar proposed he start saying things like that about his own wife, to which Nelson responded with, “Well, it’s true. When everybody else is against you, she’s usually there, [telling] you what you want to hear.”

They share a romance defined by friendship

Nelson has been married three times before. He was first married for roughly ten years to Martha Matthews before tying the knot with fellow country music powerhouse Shirley Collie. The two were together from ’63 to ’71, before Nelson married Connie Koepke. After their split in 1988, Nelson found lasting love with Annie D’Angelo, and the two married in ’91.

Annie generally stays out of the limelight, and while Nelson respects that deliberate bit of distance, he doesn’t miss a chance to share just how much she means to him.

“When it came to romance, I had a gift for complicating things,” Nelson admitted in the 2020 joint memoir, Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band. “But marrying Annie wasn’t complicated at all. It’s about the smartest thing I ever did. I can say that because, 34 years after we first met, we’re still together and going strong.”

In addition to friendship, Annie brings a lot of other things to the relationship. In May 2023, Nelson said, “I call her my pet rattler. She’s my lover, my wife, nurse, doctor, bodyguard.”