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Jason Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean, is opening up about her family’s journey with dementia.
Brittany shared a reel on Instagram on Sunday (November 9), featuring glimpses of moments with family over the years. It’s set to one of Jason’s newest songs, “Help You Remember,” from his upcoming studio album, Songs About Us. The reigning Academy of Country Music Artist of the Decade teamed up with Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy, John Morgan and Lydia Vaughan to write it.
“Our journey with dementia,” Brittany wrote in her caption, thanking and tagging each of the writers. “The heartache that diseases like this bring to a family is something we know all too well. We hope this song brings comfort to anyone going through something similar🙏🏼 Love you so much Daddy❤️”
Brittany further opened up about her father’s journey with dementia in an emotional video on her Instagram story. She admitted she struggled to get through it, and tried to record her message a few times.
“This has been a day that I’ve been excited about, but also a little bit dreading just because, you know, when we put things out on social media, it seems like we tell so much of what’s going on in life. But in actuality, we’re very private people,” Brittany said. “And you guys don’t know a lot of stuff that goes on personally. And this is the time that I have started to share my dad’s dementia journey. …When Jason’s bandmates wrote this song, you know, it obviously hit home, and Jason’s uncle actually had the same type of dementia, and passed away from this dementia, right before my dad was diagnosed, which is so crazy.
“We started seeing signs back in 2020, and then in 2022, my dad was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, which is a very horrible form,” Brittany said. “It is true what they say about dementia, which is, ‘it’s the long goodbye.’ Because just cognitively, your loved one declines, and it just seems like such a slow process, but it’s quick, too. And you’re just slowly losing your person, you know? It’s just like, mourning the loss of someone who’s still alive, so it’s been a really hard thing to go through.”
Brittany talked with her father about sharing his story publicly, and “he is the sweetest man,” she said. “He’s like, ‘if it helps one person, then it was just totally worth it.’ So, it’s something I was never gonna speak on, but I just hope that if you’re out there going through something similar, you know you’re not alone. …You never know what people are going through, even though it may seem so amazing in life, there’s a lot of things behind the scenes that people could be going through. So, just have grace…and any prayers for my sweet daddy would be so appreciated.”
“Help You Remember” is one of 20 tracks that will appear on Songs About Us, and one of three tracks that Jason released on Friday (November 7) when he made his album announcement. The country star also released “Hard To Love You” and “Lovin’ Me Too Long.” The full album will arrive on April 24. Listen to the full song here: