Elle King was in ‘high level of pain’ during drunken Dolly Parton Opry set: ‘I couldn’t go on living my life’
Elle King is speaking her truth.
The “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer, 35, opened up about the struggles she faced during her drunken performance at Dolly Parton’s 78th birthday bash in Nashville earlier this year.
Speaking about the ordeal on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s “Off the Vine” podcast, King revealed she was secretly battling with her mental state when she hit the stage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in January to honor Parton with other musical talent like Ashley Monroe, Tigirlily Gold, Dailey & Vincent and Terri Clark.
The country singer revealed she “went to a different type of therapeutic program” after the experience.
“I was very sad, and nobody really knows what I was what I was going through behind closed doors,” she told Bristowe in the podcast episode uploaded on Monday. “And I just took that as, if it wasn’t this, it’s gonna be something else.”
King shared, “I’ve 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.”
I think Elle King just ended here career. I cant imagine disrespecting Dolly at the @Grand Ole Opry on Dollys birthday 🤦🏼♀️ I hope Elle gets the help she needs cause this does not pass the vibe check. **This is not my video** • • • #thegrandoleopry #drunk #elleking #ellekingmusic #Tennessee #fyp #foryoupage #foryoupageofficiall #fypシ #fypシ゚viral
♬ original sound – AuctioneerGirl
The daughter of actor Rob Schneider continued to address her pain at the time.
“Ultimately, like, I couldn’t go on living my life or even staying in the situation that I had been going through,” King said. “I couldn’t continue to be existing in that high level of pain that I was going through at the time.”
The singer also revealed why she waited so long to elaborate on the incident, explaining, “I waited to talk about everything until I had better footing.”
King broke her silence after the Parton tribute when she forgot the words to the Queen of Country’s song “Marry Me” and told the audience she was “f—king hammered.”
“I hadn’t eaten, I hadn’t slept in days and I was really overwhelmed. I was like a shell of myself,” the four-time Grammy nominee shared in May.
According to King, she was asked to fill in as the headliner in the eleventh hour after another singer dropped out due to a snowstorm.
Calling her first show “f—king perfect,” she admitted to drinking too much between performances.
“I take one shot too many, and I’m just not there in my body. I’m not there,” King recalled. “I don’t even remember what I said. I know now what I said. I said. ‘I’m Elle King and I’m f—king hammered.’ And I got the curtain dropped on me.”
King said she has foggy flashbacks from that night.
“And then, I just get flashes of this. And I was totally 100% disassociated. Cut to the dressing room. Me on the floor, just sobbing,” she shared.
“The next day it was, like, everywhere. Everywhere. And I was mortified,” King said of the viral clips showing her fumbling through Parton’s song while telling the crowd, “I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this f—king town” and “Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday.”
Following the performance, the Grand Ole Opry issued an apology on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Hi Judas, we deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance.
— Grand Ole Opry (@opry) January 20, 2024
“We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance,” the apology read.
Parton had King’s back after the incident.
“Elle is a really great artist. She’s a great girl. She’s been going through a lot of hard things lately, and she just had a little too much to drink,” the “9 to 5” singer said in February while talking to Extra, adding, “So let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, ’cause she felt worse than anybody ever could.”
