Elle King reflects on drunken Dolly Parton tribute: 'I was going through trauma...'
Elle King had been "going through trauma" around the time of her infamous Dolly Parton performance and "felt like a shell" of herself after the video of her went viral.
Elle King had been "going through trauma" around the time of her infamous Dolly Parton performance.
The 34-year-old singer took to the stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennesee earlier this year for a show to honour the country music legend's 78th birthday but she shocked the crowd by dropping the F-bomb, slurring her words and declaring she was "hammered" and she has now reflected that she was trying to deal with something "big" in her personal life at the time.
Speaking on the 'Dear Chelsea' podcast, she said: "I had been going through something very heavy and traumatic in my life at the time. That day was a really big day dealing with what I was going through and am still going through, and I suffer from severe PTSD."
The 'Worth A Shot' singer - who is the daughter of former 'Saturday Night Live star Rob Schneider - recalled feeling as if she was a "shell" of herself on that day and that her performance of Dolly's signature hit 'Jolene' came about all last-minute because the initial performer had pulled out.
She said: "I was like a shell of myself. There was a big snowstorm that day, and this other singer who's supposed to be the headliner backed out like three hours before, and they asked me if I would sing—if I would be the headliner and sing 'Jolene.' I was like, 'Great, I know that song!"
Elle later admitted before her second song that she had "took one shot too many" and forgot the words to Dolly's 2001 hit 'Marry Me' but hadn't really realised the extent of what she had done to herself until the end of the show.
She added: "I'm just not there in my body, I'm not there. I don't even remember what I said. I got the curtain dropped on me and I was totally disassociated, and I just cut to the dressing room—me on the floor just sobbing, like, 'What have I done?"
