Martie Maguire - Personal Life

Personal Life

Martie married pharmaceutical representative Ted Seidel on June 17, 1995, and changed her last name to Seidel. She also was stepmother to his son, Carter. Brad Paisley emerged as a new country music singer who co-wrote a song about child watching as his mother kept being rejected by her dates because she had a child, and the gratitude the boy felt to the man who was able to care for them both. Martie wrote to tell him she was moved both because she was now a stepmother, and had a stepfather as well. The song was called,"He Didn't Have to Be", and Maguire joined him in performing it onstage in a concert on a CMT showcase program, "On the Verge", saying the song "struck a chord" in her." However, her marriage did not last, and she and Ted Seidel were divorced in November 1999.

At bandmate Natalie Maines' sister Kim's wedding Martie met Gareth Maguire, a Roman Catholic teacher and actor from Northern Ireland. The couple became engaged in June 2001 and and married on August 10, 2001, in a civil ceremony in Hawaii; as explained at one of their concerts, the Dixie Chicks' song "White Trash Wedding" is based on Martie's relationship with Gareth. Later they had a Catholic "blessing" ceremony in the groom's hometown, Carnlough in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on March 9, 2002, for all the guests that were not able to attend the first wedding. Maguire said of the ceremony that the Catholic Church would not permit a wedding service due to her prior divorce. Maguire said that there were many "special" people that they'd wanted to include, but that they just couldn't wait to marry. Another reason for the rush was Gareth's need to keep flying back and forth between the United State and Ireland because of visa considerations. After her second marriage, Martie changed her name to that of her new husband; which is why in her musical career she has had the surnames of Erwin, Seidel, and now Maguire.

Martie and Gareth have three daughters: fraternal twins Eva Ruth and Kathleen 'Katie' Emilie were born April 27, 2004. Katie was named after Gareth's late sister, Kathleen. Third daughter Harper Rosie Maguire was born July 25, 2008.

Maguire has been frank about using invitro fertilization to conceive their daughters. In an interview in Conceive Magazine, she said, "All my paperwork said 'unspecified origin.' We spent three years of active trying before we went to IVF. First I went on Clomid. Then I had some dye tests and found I had a collapsed tube, so I had laparoscopic surgery; the tube wasn't blocked, just spasming." After three attempts at intrauterine insemination, she said, she and her husband didn't think it was worth continuing in that manner, and switched to IVF. In August 2007, Maguire began IVF again, resulting in their third daughter Harper.

Regarding the number of children the Dixie Chicks have produced in the past seven years, (Maines has two; Robison has three in addition to Maguire's twins and newborn) Maguire told People Magazine, "We'll have to move over and let the little chicks take over! We've got a new band!"

Maguire and Robison co-wrote a song, "So Hard", about their own personal experiences with infertility and their need to rely on other methods to conceive. They speak out about the difficulties they faced, but also their good fortune; both having options that for many women are financially prohibitive. Mentioning the stigma attached to IVF, Magurie said, "I think we feel a responsibility to break down some barriers. It's much more of a common problem than people realize." A final concern Maguire mentioned was the question of what to do with all the unused frozen embryos. "Now that I have children, I see those embryos as possible children. So I have to think about what my options are if there are leftovers again. I could keep them in storage, and maybe they will help my children some day. Or I can try to donate them to stem cell research. I don't think I could give them to another family," she admits. "I would always worry: what if it's an abusive family? What if they don't get enough love?"