Hannah Mooney admitted she “swore off men,” prior to marrying her husband, Dan + Shay star Shay Mooney.

Hannah caught up with Hanley Riggs on a new episode of Married to the Music, which premiered on Friday (August 21), the same day Dan + Shay released their newest studio record. During their conversation, Hannah said she was “done” with the dating games before she met Shay, and reflected on the sweet way he won her over.

“I swore off men. I was like, all I need is Jesus. Like, I — I’m done. I can’t with the games. I’m not gonna be played. The next guy I date, I’m gonna marry. And then Shay comes bebopping along,” Hannah recalled. “My friend called me out because I forgot at what point he started texting, but he had slid in the DMs. He was always commenting on my Instagram pictures, and it was always the ones of my dogs. It was very innocent. It was sweet and subtle,” she said. Though Hannah was doubtful her communication with Shay would turn into a relationship, she said her friend pointed out, “you're always smiling when you're texting him. ...You should see if he ever comes to town.” Hannah had recently moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Shay had an upcoming performance there. “But the funny part is, I was job hunting at the time and I was so broke. So, so broke. So, I said ‘how much are tickets?’ He was like, ‘I think $30.’ And I was like, ‘I can’t go.’ And he was like, ‘oh, how many tickets do you need?’ And I was like, ‘two,’ because I was like, I’ll bring one of my girlfriends. And so, we went. I knew none of his music.”

Still, Hannah admitted she was “impressed” by her now-husband’s performance. He invited her to meet him on his tour bus after the show, where she met nearly everyone in his family, “and in front of everyone, he asked me to be his date to the ACMs.” Hannah “brushed it off” at first, and later agreed to go “as a friend.” When she met Shay for the Academy of Country Music’s award show, Shay asked Hannah to be his girlfriend. In an attempt to “scare” him off, Hannah told him, “I’m not playing games. The next guy I date, we’re going to get married. He’s going to lead our family in Christ. He’s going to be an example for our children.”

She told her best friend afterward, “crap. I think he loves me.”

The couple’s relationship has since flourished, and they recently celebrated their 10-year anniversary. Hannah wrote in an Instagram post earlier this month that Shay is “my best friend,” and she told him, “I love you more with each passing day.” Shay wrote in a tribute of his own, in part, that he “can’t imagine where I would be without you. It’s been quite the journey to get here. …Thank you for loving me. Here’s to the next 10 years.” Hannah told Riggs that Shay “proposed and he opens the doors, like there's photographers there, my college pastor was there, our parents were there, he had three dresses for me... And we got married the same day that he proposed.”

Now, Hannah and Shay share four young sons: Asher James (9), Ames Alexander (6), Abram Shay (3) and Aubrey Ellis (1). Hannah quipped on Married to the Music, “I'm fond of telling people that I literally live in a frat house... There's pee everywhere. It's so loud all the time.”

Throughout the podcast, Hannah reflected on her upbringing on a cattle farm in a small town in Arkansas. She went on to talk about winning Miss Arkansas USA, the painful relationships that led her to swearing off men, how she started dating Shay, getting invited to Justin Bieber’s wedding wife Hailey Bieber, sitting with Kris Jenner and Usher, life with her family and more. Listen to the full episode on iHeartRadio here.

Brooke Taylor

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