Thomas Rhett & Lauren Akins Share 'Pure Magic' Moment With Their Daughters

Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins took an adorable family photo when they took their daughters to the movie theater to see the new live-action version of The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey in the lead role as the beloved Disney princess, Ariel.

The Where We Started artist and his wife, Akins, are parents to four young girls: Willa Gray (7), Ada James (5), Lennon Love (3) and Lillie Carolina, who celebrated her first birthday in November. Rhett and Akins adopted their oldest daughter from Uganda in 2017, and the country star told PEOPLE at that time that “it was like Christmas Day” when she arrived in Nashville.

“The Little Mermaid with my favorite mermaids 🧜🏾‍♀️🦀🪸🍿,” Akins captioned a family photo on Instagram, taken in front of the film’s poster in the movie theater. “Getting to see the girls’ excitement that ‘the real’ Ariel looks like their sister just turned my heart into a giant puddle 🤎🥹🥰😭 pure magic✨”

Commenters gushed over Akins’ caption, including those who wrote, “THIS is why representation matters! What a beautiful moment for your daughters and your family. Willa Gray is a real life princess!,” “😭😭😭 SO sweet 🧜🏿‍♀️✨,” and others.

The Little Mermaid debuted in theaters late last month. The Rob Marshall-directed film also stars Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, Awkwafina as Scuttle and more. 

“Getting that role felt very surreal. It was much of a shocker for me,” Bailey previously said of her role as Ariel. “Even when I was asked to audition, I looked at it and I was like me? For Ariel? …But [I'm] so grateful that I kind of get to reinvent Ariel and show other young, beautiful black and brown children that hey, you can be this too. You are magical and mythical and all of the wonderful things in between as well.”