Sounds like she’s come a long way.
Of course, I think we all remember the viral story about Elle King back in January, where just days after King appeared to be inebriated as she hosted Nashville’s New Years Eve Bash, the “Ex’s and Oh’s” singer angered a lot of country fans when she disrespected the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman and Dolly Parton during an Opry Goes Dolly tribute.
King slurred her speech as she stood in front of the crowd at Ryman Auditorium, and barely got through a performance of Dolly Parton’s “Marry Me.” She shouted a very tasteful, “I don’t give a sh*t” right in the middle of the song, which just in case you weren’t familiar with the tune, is not a part of the chorus:
@traveler_bex #Elleking ruins #dollyparton birthday bash in #nashville ♬ original sound – Bex
Following the incident, she canceled all the shows that were on her calendar at the time, and laid pretty low, going to therapy and trying to move on from what happened as privately as possible.
She did apologize to Dolly, and even wrote her a letter, and Dolly was as gracious as ever, saying that Elle “felt worse than anybody ever could,” and obviously, I don’t think Dolly took the fiasco personally at all (unlike her sister, Stella Parton):
“Elle is really a great artist, she’s a great girl. And she’s been going through a lot of hard things lately, and she just had a little too much to drink.
So let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, ‘cuz she felt worse than anybody ever could.”
And on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Off the Vine podcast this week, Elle explained that she was going through some very hard things “behind closed doors,” and that she’s a different person now. She also told the host that she went to “a different type of therapeutic program” to help with whatever it was she was dealing with:
“After everything that happened in January, I went to a different type of therapeutic program because I was very sad, and nobody really knows what I was going through behind closed doors.
And I just took that as, A., if it wasn’t this it was going to be something else, and B., I had to heal and deal and go through things. And someone said to me, I think you might find a silver lining or something good that comes out of your experience with that, and I’m like I haven’t found it yet motherf****r!
But I feel like I’m a different person. I’m still incredibly anxious constantly, but I was before, so at least I’m a little more conscientious of it.”
She also joked with Kaitlyn, who was confused as to what the big deal was, that you’re not supposed to cuss on the Opry stage “if you’re a woman,” and honestly, I think it’s funny because there is a little bit of truth to it.
Not to excuse what she did at all, but there have been many a drunk performances at the Opry and plenty of other stages over the decades where her male counterparts have let it rip and certainly didn’t suffer the consequences that she did:
“You’re not supposed to do that if you’re a woman… I mean, you’re not supposed to do that at all. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.”
She ultimately says that if it wasn’t the Opry incident that sent her on this journey, it would’ve been something else, and she sees it now as an opportunity to grow and evolve:
“I mean, I say I find more silver linings in it than not. Ultimately, like, I couldn’t go on living my life or even staying in the situation that I had been going through. I couldn’t continue to be existing in that high level of pain that I was going through at the time.
I feel like, Dolly Parton, she just delivered me this opportunity for growth. She loves butterflies, doesn’t she? Talk about metamorphosis. I get this a lot, people say ‘What’s the big deal?’
And for, if I just reacted or I just spoke about it then, it wouldn’t have been from a place of, I’m not healed, but I waited to talk about everything until I had better footing because I was not okay.
I’m still not okay, like, I’m a psychopath, but I also am coming out as a new person. I’m still very much me, if anything, I’m much more me now than I even have been in 20 years.”
It’s great to hear that she’s doing so much better, because Elle is a talented artist who has a lot to offer the world of music. She’s also a mom to her two-year-old son Lucky, and says that’s her #1 priority:
“I want to be a good mom over anything, over everything.”
Elle released her first country album Come Get Your Wife last year, and it was pretty solid and I enjoyed a lot of the music on it. She also covered Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Giant,” and has a few show dates in August this year if you want to see her live.
You can watch her talk about her Opry incident and everything else here:
“Jersey Giant”