Country star Trace Adkins spoke about an argument with an ex-wife that ended with him being wounded by a gunshot he called a “kill shot.”
Adkins, during an appearance on “This Past Weekend with Theo Von,” said his ex “took it a little far” when she wanted him to leave, Fox News reported.
The incident happened in 1994 while he was separated from his second wife, Julie Curtis, whom he married in 1991, Entertainment Weekly reported. They divorced the same year as the shooting. Two years later, he released his debut album “Dreamin’ Out Loud.”
People magazine reported that the argument stemmed from his drinking.
He said that his wife at the time was holding a gun and was getting ready to fire it. He approached her with his hand out, asking her to hand over the weapon.
“She was mad. Wanted me to leave, and I wasn’t going to leave, so that’s how it went down,” he said. “She put it under my left arm and the bullet came out under my right arm.”
The “Rough and Ready” singer said he does not remember feeling anything when he was shot.
“I just remember getting up off the floor and then taking a few steps and then going back down and that’s all I remember,” he said. “It went under this arm, came out this arm. So it went straight through. It went straight through my heart and both my lungs. It was a kill shot.”
He explained, “The doctor said the only reason I survived was cause the bullet went through at point-blank velocity at muzzle velocity. So it didn’t have time to mushroom. It was just muzzle velocity, so it just went straight through.”
Adkins said the pain he felt came from the surgery and recovery after doctors repaired his heart and lungs.
He also added that he does not think his ex-wife intended to kill him, saying, “I don’t think she even had any idea what that gun was going to do.”
“I’d never seen her hold a gun. I’d never seen her shoot a gun,” he said. “I knew she had one, but I’d never seen her use it. I had a bunch of guns, still have a bunch of guns, and I shoot them pretty often, but I’d never seen her do that. And I just I don’t think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger. She thought it was a toy.”
Adkins did not press charges.
This is not the first time he has spoken about surviving the shooting. He told People magazine in 2022, "It wasn’t my time to go. It was painful, but it didn’t sear my memory. The physical pain — broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut — has never really bothered me. I have a high tolerance for it. It’s the broken hearts that left the deepest scars.”
He still sees a heart doctor for checkups.
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