Country star Toby Keith’s daughter, Krystal Keith, broke her silence for the first time following her father’s death on Monday.
In her post on Friday on Instagram, the 38-year-old Krystal said she’s “shattered” and wrote about what an incredible father he was to her, her brother Stelen Covel, and her half-sister Shelley.
“As great as he was in his career, he was so much greater as a dad and a husband and a Pop Pop,” Krystal wrote. “He was my hero.”
“I am so lucky to have had him and so grateful he got to walk me down the aisle and meet my babies,” she added. “That I have years of memories traveling the world as a family. I am blessed that I got to spend years traveling on the road and singing on stage with him. That I have mountains of video footage and endless tracks of music to watch him on and hear his voice with. I’m lucky I got to say goodbye and tell him what he meant to me.”
“I will forever honor him,” Krystal continued. “The pain is so unbelievably deep and it feels like I have a literal broken heart but I know that it wouldn’t hurt so bad if we didn’t love him and get to be loved so deeply by him. He never made me wonder if he would be there for me. He made sure to live with Jesus so he could go with Jesus. Jesus taking him home is the cherry on top of the life we got to live with him. Love YOU more dad. XO.”
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Krystal also talked about the “immense outpouring of love and segments remembering him” and the “amount of people and networks honoring him.”
She wrote about how it’s been a reminder “that he wasn’t just ours. He was the world’s. He is the gift that we were, as a family, able to offer the world and he did not squander our sacrifice of time with him.”
Kyrstal also talked about her father’s “accomplishments” and the impact he had on people’s lives.
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“There is so much he did for people that no one knew about, even us,” the late-country singer’s daughter said. “He didn’t want recognition for doing good deeds, he just did them because his heart led him to or someone needed him to.”
Krystal’s brother, Stelen Covel, also shared a sweet tribute on his social media to his dad.
“Your impact is forever stamped on the world and on millions of people, yet not one person knew you the way I did,” Keith’s son wrote. “You were my biggest champion and the guiding light in my darkest times. The best mentor a man could ask for.”
“You truly did it your way, from the starting gates to the finish line, and never apologized for it,” he added. “The only thing I truly ever wanted in life was to make you proud. I promise I will continue to make you proud. It’s not goodbye forever; it’s just goodbye for now. I love you cowboy.”
Keith is survived by his wife of almost 40 years, Tricia Lucus, his three children and four grandchildren.