Darius Rucker is still processing some of his feelings about his divorce from his wife of 20 years, Beth Leonard.
"That stuff hurts and you feel like a failure," Rucker told People in a recent interview. "But we’re still a family—a piece of paper is not going to change that."
Rucker noted that they’re "not officially divorced yet," adding, "We’re still a family, and that’s all because Beth is awesome. She knows it’s the best for the kids, and she’s a great human being."
The singer and his ex-wife share two children, Daniela, 22, and Jack, 18, and Rucker has a daughter, Carolyn, 28, from a previous relationship.
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The 57-year-old is committed to parenting his kids, even though they’re all adults, saying he’s "not thinking" about dating and is "just trying to be the best dad I can be for those grown kids."
Rucker’s focus on fatherhood is in part due to his own childhood growing up without his dad in his life.
"It was tough growing up without a dad. I hated it," Rucker said. "I had a lot of great father figures in my life, but not having him there was s---ty, and I don’t ever want my kids to not know where their dad is or how they can get in touch with him, because I never knew how to get in touch with mine."
He continues: "With a job like mine, you travel a lot, but the one thing is, [my children] always know where I am. I think that’s directly from the fact that I never knew where [my father] was."
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Rucker instead was raised by his mother Carolyn, who died in 1992 before he rose to fame with Hootie and the Blowfish and later a Grammy award-winning country music star.
His eighth solo album, "Carolyn’s Boy," is a tribute to his late mom.
"I was writing the record, I was having a bad day, you know, bad mental day. And I just remember I sat there, and I said to myself, ‘At the end of the day, I’m just still my mama’s boy.’ And that was really the moment for me, you know, that’s what the record is," he told The Associated Press. "It’s me just being who she raised me to be."
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"Now that I'm a dad, three times over with grown kids, I just wanted to pay tribute to my mom who never got to see any of this stuff, any of this success," he continued.
Rucker also revealed in People that his two youngest kids are interested in following in his footsteps, despite him joking that he wanted them to be doctors or lawyers.
He also said that even with his success and fame, they still see him as a typical dad.
"They truly don’t give a s--- what I do for a living. I’m nothing special. I’m their dad," he told People. "They love my music, and they think it’s cool, but they’ll still be at a show, and I’ll walk out of the back of my bus, and they’ll go, ‘Dad, are you going to wear that?’ They love letting me know that I’m a dork, and I love them for it."
