Kenneth Lee
2010-05-06 01:35:40 UTC
Video of her interview on the Today show is at that link
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20366599,00.html
Chely Wright: Life in the Closet Nearly Drove Me to Suicide
By Tim Nudd
Wednesday May 05, 2010 11:30 AM EDT
When she hit rock bottom, Chely Wright came close to ending the life
that had kept a big secret for so long.
The country-music singer, 39, who came out this week, says at one
point she picked up a gun and was close to pulling the trigger
trapped as a closeted lesbian and afraid of losing everything in a
conservative industry that might not accept who she really was.
"I had a 9-millimeter gun in my mouth," Wright said on Wednesday's
Today show. "I was living a secret life, and I was very much a
country-music celebrity I gave up hope, and I was ready to take my
own life."
The pressure had been building, she said, ever since John Rich of
country-music duo Big & Rich asked her if she was gay the first time
she'd ever been asked directly after years of avoiding the issue.
She recalls: "John finally asked me point blank: 'You're not gay. If
you are, people won't have it. It's sick, it's deviant, it's
unacceptable to country-music fans.' And he said, 'You're not, are
you?' And I lied. And I knew that I had gone from not talking about it
to being a liar."
The weight of that new burden nearly drove her to suicide but she
managed to face her fears instead. "I stopped praying for what I had
always prayed for, which was 'Help me figure out a way to still have
my career and everything,' " she says. "My prayer was: 'God, give me a
moment's peace.' "
She adds: "I didn't hear God's voice. I didn't see a guy in a robe.
But I heard God say what He'd been whispering in my ear all along: 'I
expect one thing of you, and that's to tell the truth.' "
Wright, author of the new memoir Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland
Country Singer, admits she has some trepidation about how fans will
react to her announcement. "I am not not afraid," she says. "But I'm
not ashamed." And besides, a huge weight has been lifted. "It feels
incredible," she says. "I feel as if it's my birthday."
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20366599,00.html
Chely Wright: Life in the Closet Nearly Drove Me to Suicide
By Tim Nudd
Wednesday May 05, 2010 11:30 AM EDT
When she hit rock bottom, Chely Wright came close to ending the life
that had kept a big secret for so long.
The country-music singer, 39, who came out this week, says at one
point she picked up a gun and was close to pulling the trigger
trapped as a closeted lesbian and afraid of losing everything in a
conservative industry that might not accept who she really was.
"I had a 9-millimeter gun in my mouth," Wright said on Wednesday's
Today show. "I was living a secret life, and I was very much a
country-music celebrity I gave up hope, and I was ready to take my
own life."
The pressure had been building, she said, ever since John Rich of
country-music duo Big & Rich asked her if she was gay the first time
she'd ever been asked directly after years of avoiding the issue.
She recalls: "John finally asked me point blank: 'You're not gay. If
you are, people won't have it. It's sick, it's deviant, it's
unacceptable to country-music fans.' And he said, 'You're not, are
you?' And I lied. And I knew that I had gone from not talking about it
to being a liar."
The weight of that new burden nearly drove her to suicide but she
managed to face her fears instead. "I stopped praying for what I had
always prayed for, which was 'Help me figure out a way to still have
my career and everything,' " she says. "My prayer was: 'God, give me a
moment's peace.' "
She adds: "I didn't hear God's voice. I didn't see a guy in a robe.
But I heard God say what He'd been whispering in my ear all along: 'I
expect one thing of you, and that's to tell the truth.' "
Wright, author of the new memoir Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland
Country Singer, admits she has some trepidation about how fans will
react to her announcement. "I am not not afraid," she says. "But I'm
not ashamed." And besides, a huge weight has been lifted. "It feels
incredible," she says. "I feel as if it's my birthday."