Joe Diffie - Personal Life

Personal Life

Diffie has been married three times. His first wife was Janise Parker, whom he married while in college. The couple divorced in 1986 and had two children: Parker and Kara. Parker later worked as Diffie's on-road manager in the mid-2000s, and in mid-2010, he and Kara auditioned for American Idol. Two years after divorcing Janise, Diffie married Debbie Jones, a nurse technician. They had two sons, Drew and Tyler, the latter of whom was born with Down syndrome and nearly died in 1991 following complications from a tonsillectomy. Diffie began an affair with Liz Allison, the widow of NASCAR driver Davey Allison, in 1993. In 1994, a judge ordered Diffie to pay Jones $3,000 per month towards their pending divorce settlement, and not to allow Drew and Tyler to be in the presence of any girlfriend; he divorced Jones in 1996. In 2000, Diffie married the former Theresa Crump, whom he met at a concert, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. They have one daughter, Kylie Tarissa, born in 2004.

From 1992 to the early 2000s, Diffie held a charity concert and golf tournament benefiting First Steps, a nonprofit organization for the education of mentally and physically impaired children. His contributions to this organization won him a Humanitarian Award from the Country Radio Broadcasters in 1997.