Toby Keith was actually a plumber, or at least that’s what his daughter, Krystal Keith, remembers telling her friends who wanted to know more about her father.

For Krystal, growing up in the Keith family was pretty normal, despite her father becoming an instant country star in 1993 with his smash hit “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”

Curious outsiders who tried to pry into Krystal’s life would ask what her father did for a living. She often replied that her father had a normal 9 to 5 job.

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Krystal Keith always told her friends that her father, Toby Keith, was a plumber. (Krystal Keith)

“I thought everyone’s dad had a job like my dad… he might as well have been a plumber,” Krystal told Fox News Digital exclusively. “That’s what I told people he did. Later in life, when people found out who he was, and they came up and asked me a question that I knew they knew the answer to, they said, ‘What does your dad do for a living?’ I said, ‘He’s a plumber.’

“And then they asked, ‘What’s his name again?’ And it was always Mark.”

If her friends weren’t convinced by Krystal’s story, she had an alternative plan with an easy-to-recognize name.

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“My second favorite thing was saying Garth Brooks, because they already knew he was a singer,” she said. “They were expecting Toby Keith, and I’d be like, ‘My dad is Garth Brooks!’

“I never wanted to give them what they expected.”

Toby Keith rose to fame with the release of his first song in 1993, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

Krystal says not much changed when her father became famous in the ’90s. (Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Krystal was just a kid when Toby released his first song, but she remembers that despite his superstar status, not much changed at home.

“My second favorite thing was saying Garth Brooks, because they already knew he was a singer. They were expecting Toby Keith, and I’d say, ‘My dad is Garth Brooks!'”

—Krystal Keith

“We had an incredibly normal childhood, so it wasn’t like our lives changed drastically,” she said. “It was just that the things we could afford changed a little bit. My mom didn’t worry about, you know, where the electric bill was going to be paid. I mean, that was something we never knew about from the days we were living in a trailer.”

“We could have been rich back then. I didn’t know the difference. We never lacked anything… we always had everything we needed.”

Krystal, her sister Shelley and brother Stelen underwent a “gradual change” in their lifestyle as they were able to travel and attend their father’s shows simply because they could afford more access.

WATCH: TOBY KEITH’S DAUGHTER TOLD FRIENDS HER FATHER WAS A ‘PLUMBER’

“He stayed the same the whole time,” Krystal said. “It was just that the people around us changed and the way they treated us and the way they talked to us about him changed.

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“And that was what showed me as a kid: oh, this is not normal; he’s not like everyone else’s father.”

“We could have been rich back then. I didn’t know the difference. We never lacked anything… we always had everything we needed.”

—Krystal Keith

When Krystal made her own path in the music industryher father passed on words of wisdom in his own “Toby Keith” way.

Toby Keith and daughter Krystal often performed together on stage. (Getty Images)

“He never said, ‘Don’t do this or don’t do that.’ He was like, ‘You can do whatever you want, but here’s my advice on it, and you can take it or leave it,’” Krystal recalled. “And he really let me chart my own path and … he rarely said, ‘Hey, I have this idea for you.’ He always let me come up with my own ideas and run things the way I wanted to run them.

“If I was stuck somewhere, or if I needed advice or a push, I would go in and say, ‘Hey, what do you think of this song?’ and he would give me his advice.”

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On Wednesday, Krystal performed with an all-star cast on the television special “Toby Keith: American Idol” — a tribute to the late country icon who passed away on February 5 after a long battle with cancer.

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New “American Idol” host Carrie Underwood covered Keith’s “A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action,” while Lainey Wilson covered “Beer For My Horses” after riding a horse into the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.

Giving back to the community was of the utmost importance to Toby, a longtime advocate for childhood cancer research and advocacy through the Toby Keith Foundation. The event supported the Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kids Korral, a center for children and their families undergoing cancer treatment that provides day and night lodging at no charge.

Krystal felt pressured to sing at her father’s tribute show, but knew he looked down on her. (Getty Images)

Parker McCollum participated in the tribute “Toby Keith: American Icon”. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Universal Music Group)

Carrie Underwood performed at the Toby Keith tribute. (Jason Kempin)

“We were given a legacy that no one can touch,” Krystal said. “He really left an incredible legacy. And then we as a family said, ‘Hey, this is our job. This is our duty to do this.’ He was really concerned about … if he didn’t survive cancer, who’s going to carry this torch?”

She added: “It’s a really special place, and we need it to keep going. Our community needs it. Kids from all over the country come here to be treated. It’s an incredible hospital. It means a lot to our whole family.”

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