Trace Adkins Shares Surprising Incident with Ex-Wife

In a recent episode of the podcast “This Weekend with Theo Fung,” country music star Trace Adkins opened up about a shocking experience from his past involving one of his ex-wives. The 64-year-old singer recounted how he was shot by an ex-girlfriend when he refused to leave her home.

“She was furious,” Adkins explained. “She wanted me to go, but I wasn’t about to leave.” He recalled the moment vividly, mentioning that the gun was placed under his left arm, and the bullet exited under his right arm.

During the tense situation, Adkins approached her, hand extended, asking her to relinquish the weapon if she were to pull the trigger. It was a precarious moment, for sure.

Reflecting on the shooting, he said, “When things escalate to that level, your body goes into shock and just protects itself.” He admitted that he didn’t even register the pain at the time. “I just remember getting up off the floor and walking a few steps before tumbling back down. It passed right through me—straight through my heart and both lungs. It was a lethal hit.”

Adkins noted that the medical team attributed his survival to the fact that the bullet hit him at close range with full muzzle velocity, meaning it didn’t have time to expand rapidly. “It just went straight through,” he mentioned, adding that the pain only came during the recovery phase when they were repairing his heart and lungs.

When asked if he thought his ex-girlfriend was attempting to harm herself by firing the gun, Adkins said he didn’t believe that was the case. “I don’t think she grasped what that gun was capable of,” he said, emphasizing that he had never witnessed her fire a weapon before. “She thought it was like a toy,” he added, revealing that he chose not to pursue any legal action afterward.

This incident occurred in 1994, during a tumultuous period in his life that led to his separation from his second wife, Julie Curtis, followed by their divorce later that year. Before Curtis, Adkins had been married to Barbara Lewis and Rhonda Forrow, with whom he separated in 2014.

Currently, he is married to Canadian actress Victoria Pratt, whom he wed in October 2019, with singer Blake Shelton officiating the ceremony.

Recently, while discussing his new song “American Made,” Adkins expressed pride in both his and Pratt’s American heritage, noting that their families have lived in the country for generations. “We’re both proud to be Americans,” he stated.