{"id":20694,"date":"2026-07-29T07:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T02:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20694"},"modified":"2026-07-29T07:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T02:12:24","slug":"country-star-relives-horrifying-moment-he-was-shot-through-the-heart-by-his-ex-wife-totally-uncalled-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20694","title":{"rendered":"Country star relives horrifying moment he was shot through the heart by his ex-wife: &#8216;Totally uncalled for&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/trace-adkins\/index.html\" id=\"mol-371371b0-8ade-11f1-a37d-8f339e3091d2\">Trace Adkins<\/a> had a sense of humor while speaking about a shocking 1994 incident in which his ex-wife Julie Curtis shot him through the heart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The 64-year-old musical artist, appearing on the <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mcEa-tSincA\">This Past Weekend with Theo Von podcast <\/a> Tuesday, said in a joking tone, &#8216;That took it a little far, I thought &#8211; that was uncalled for &#8211; that was totally uncalled for.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Sarepta, <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/louisiana\/index.html\" id=\"mol-371a2870-8ade-11f1-a37d-8f339e3091d2\">Louisiana<\/a> native continued, &#8216;Just leave; let&#8217;s just call it quits and we don&#8217;t have to go that far.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Honky Tonk Badonkadonk artist said that the shooting took place amid a row about his drinking, and that he did not believe it was intentional on her part.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I don&#8217;t think she even had any idea what that gun was gonna do,&#8217; Adkins told Von in the exchange. &#8216;I&#8217;d never seen her hold a gun, I&#8217;d never seen her shoot a gun. I knew she had one, but I&#8217;d never seen her use it.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Adkins for further comment on the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-6853b84c6b681bfc\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/29\/00\/110308659-16012139-image-m-16_1785282452150.jpg\" height=\"642\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Trace Adkins, 64, had a sense of humor while speaking about a shocking 1994 incident in which his ex-wife Julie Curtis shot him through the heart\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Trace Adkins, 64, had a sense of humor while speaking about a shocking 1994 incident in which his ex-wife Julie Curtis shot him through the heart\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-2815daa86dcd94b3\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/29\/01\/110308689-16012139-Adkins_seen_onstage_in_Thousand_Oaks_California_on_February_11_2-a-8_1785285928337.jpg\" height=\"931\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Adkins seen onstage in Thousand Oaks, California\u00a0on February 11, 2019\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Adkins seen onstage in Thousand Oaks, California\u00a0on February 11, 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adkins said of Curtis: &#8216;I don&#8217;t think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger &#8211; she thought it was a toy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The shooting stemmed out of a row over Curtis&#8217; anger that Adkins did not want to leave their home at the time, the musician told Von.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He said that when she fired the gun, it &#8216;went straight through my heart and both my lungs,&#8217; exiting his right arm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adkins said he had scant memories of the violent incident: &#8216;I just remember getting off the floor, taking a few steps and then going back down &#8211; that&#8217;s all I remember.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He was subsequently transported via airlift to Nashville&#8217;s Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where doctors said that being shot &#8216;at point blank&#8217; range played a critical role in him making it out of the incident alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Due to the close distance, Adkins said, the bullet &#8216;didn&#8217;t have time to mushroom&#8217; and cause further damage to his person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adkins said it had been agonizing following open-heart surgery he had to undergo in the wake of the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He added, &#8216;The recovery from something like that, that hurts &#8211; they don&#8217;t care, they just stretch everything and break stuff. They&#8217;re just trying to get to your heart to save your life.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-833ad4bdf00812d4\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/29\/01\/110308665-16012139-image-m-31_1785284638258.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The Honky Tonk Badonkadonk artist said that the shooting took place amid a row about his drinking, and that he did not believe it was intentional on his ex-wife's part\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The Honky Tonk Badonkadonk artist said that the shooting took place amid a row about his drinking, and that he did not believe it was intentional on his ex-wife&#8217;s part\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-4a435c6404b81369\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/29\/01\/110309475-16012139-image-m-33_1785284751359.jpg\" height=\"1016\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Adkins pictured in LA in 1997, three years following the shooting\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Adkins pictured in LA in 1997, three years following the shooting\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-93f94d7f770309be\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/29\/01\/110310177-16012139-image-a-9_1785285987330.jpg\" height=\"951\" width=\"634\" alt=\"He wed his current spouse Victoria Pratt in 2019; The two are pictured in 2022\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">He wed his current spouse Victoria Pratt in 2019; The two are pictured in 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adkins and Curtis divorced later in 1994, and he never pressed charges against her, adding that he didn&#8217;t harbor any hard feelings following the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Ladies Love Country Boys artist added, &#8216;I&#8217;ve just always felt like I don&#8217;t think she meant to do it &#8211; I just don&#8217;t think she thought it was gonna hurt me. She thought I was indestructible.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adkins remarked on the shooting in a 2022 interview with <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/country\/trace-adkins-fortunate-to-still-be-here-after-gunshot-wound-multiple-near-fatal-accidents\">People<\/a>, &#8216;It wasn&#8217;t my time to go.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He said that he has made routine visits to a heart doctor in more than three decades since the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;It was painful, but it didn&#8217;t sear my memory,&#8217; Adkins said. &#8216;The physical pain &#8211; broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut &#8211; has never really bothered me. I have a high tolerance for it. It&#8217;s the broken hearts that left the deepest scars.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adkins has been married a total of four times: to Barbara Lewis, who he shares two daughters with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Following his marriage to Curtis, he had been wed to Rhonda Forlaw, who he shares three daughters with, from 1997-2014. He wed his current spouse Victoria Pratt in 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trace Adkins had a sense of humor while speaking about a shocking 1994 incident in which his ex-wife Julie Curtis shot him through the heart. The 64-year-old musical artist, appearing on the This Past Weekend with Theo Von podcast Tuesday, said in a joking tone, &#8216;That took it a little far, I thought &#8211; that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/29\/00\/110308659-16012139-image-m-16_1785282452150.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}