LeAnn Rimes on Diane Warren writing the song:

Diane really hit the co-dependency nerve of our society with ‘How Do I Live’ – it’s played at weddings, funerals and just about every pivotal life-altering moment. There’s magic to great songwriters, their heartfelt lyrics and the right voice that soulfully delivers that message and we seem to have been the perfect storm. I loved it from the very moment Diane played it for me.”

Via Billboard

After LeAnn won the best new artist Grammy [in 1996], I ran into her at a restaurant. She was the young hot artist at the time. She was just a great singer, even at that age. I told her I wrote this song for Con Air – though I didn’t mention that there were 200 songs in contention – and literally the next day she demoed it. After Trisha’s version ended up in the film, [LeAnn’s label] Curb Records wasn’t going to put it out, so I called [founder] Mike Curb and said, “You have to put it out. It’s a hit record for her. Even though LeAnn came from the country world, I figured she had a better shot at crossing over into pop, and my prediction was right. She’s one of the most underrated (and best) singers in music. Trisha had a massive career and a Grammy-winning country hit because of it, but LeAnn’s version exploded. It was everywhere."

Diane Warren via Billboard

I remember getting in a lot of trouble because there were two versions of it. I wrote the song for the movie Con Air. Well, what happened was, so I wrote it. And I wrote for the movie, and I played it for [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer. And he liked it. But there were I think, 200 other songs in the [running] at that time for that movie. And I happened to run into LeAnn Rimes, who had just won the Grammy for Best New Artist, at a restaurant and I told her, I wrote this song, do you want to demo it?” So she went back and recorded it, did a video, and spent all this money. I played it for Jerry. And he was excited about LeAnn, but he wanted some changes made. And her dad, who was a co-producer on the song, was like, ‘I’m not changing nothing for them Hollywood people.’ And then Jerry asked if it was okay to put Tricia [Yearwood] on. And I said, Yeah, but I can’t pull it from LeAnn. even if Trisha does it for the movie. And then Jerry was like, ‘No, you have to pull it from LeAnn.’ I couldn’t do that. Jerry was like, ‘I’m never gonna work with you again.” Then LeAnn was mad at me and Jerry was mad at me. Until it became, you know, the biggest hit. So then they all start liking me again. That’s what hits do. They make people like you!

–via RollingStone (Feb. 2021)