{"id":21739,"date":"2026-07-30T06:32:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21739"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:32:36","slug":"trace-adkins-forgave-his-wife-for-shooting-him-in-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21739","title":{"rendered":"Trace Adkins Forgave His Wife For Shooting Him In the Heart"},"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>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/tags\/trace-adkins\" target=\"_blank\">Trace Adkins<\/a> has what might be the world&#8217;s best reason for holding a grudge against his second wife, Julie Curtis.<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 21, 1994, she shot him\u00a0at point-blank range in the heat of an argument, and the bullet went straight through his heart and lungs. The injury nearly killed him.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>READ MORE<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/trace-adkins-wife-shot-him-in-the-heart\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trace Adkins Didn&#8217;t Press Charges After His Ex-Wife Shot Him in the Heart<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But the singer <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/trace-adkins-wife-shot-him-in-the-heart\/\" target=\"_blank\">didn&#8217;t press charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Not only that, but he seems to have forgiven his ex.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Trace Adkins Explains Why He Forgave His Ex-Wife for Shooting Him in the Heart<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Akins spoke calmly when he recalled the incident during a new interview on\u00a0<em>This Past Weekend w\/Theo Von<\/em>. &#8220;It was a long time ago,&#8221; he said matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s not the only reason why he&#8217;s found peace. Simply put, he\u00a0thinks that his ex-wife never really intended to hurt him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh yeah,&#8221; he responded, when Theo Von asked if she&#8217;d apologized. &#8220;You know, I&#8217;ve just always felt like, I don&#8217;t think she meant to do it, man. I don&#8217;t think she thought she was gonna hurt me. She thought I was indestructible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To hear Adkins tell it, it also seems like Julie wasn&#8217;t all that familiar with firearms. He knew she owned one \u2014 and Adkins was and is a gunowner himself \u2014 but he&#8217;d never seen her use it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger. Thought it was a toy,&#8221; he continues.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why Did Trace Adkins&#8217; Second Wife Shoot Him?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Adkins has admitted to struggling with alcohol over the years, and his drinking has been a contributing factor to several turbulent marriages. In 1994, during his marriage to Julie, the two got into an argument over a drinking binge.<\/p>\n<p>He tried to disarm her, and she shot him.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>READ MORE<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/country-stars-living-with-illness\/\" target=\"_blank\">Country Singers Who Are Living With Serious Chronic Illnesses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She was mad, yeah. Wanted me to to leave. That&#8217;s how it went down,&#8221; Adkins tells Von. &#8220;She put [the gun] under my left arm and the bullet came out under my right arm. So, that&#8217;s how it went through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How Seriously Was Trace Adkins Injured When His Wife Shot Him In the Heart?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Adkins was grievously injured in the altercation. He had to be transported to Vanderbilt via life flight helicopter, and he underwent emergency surgery.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a kill shot,&#8221; Adkins now recounts.<\/p>\n<p>According to his doctor, he adds, &#8220;the only reason that I survived was because the bullet went through at point-blank velocity. So it didn&#8217;t have time to mushroom. It was just, you know, muzzle velocity, so it just went straight through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He describes the recovery process as pretty agonizing, too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When they trauma surgery, they just cut you and crack you open,&#8221; he recounts. &#8220;&#8230;They stretch everything and break stuff. They&#8217;re just trying to get you open to get to your heart and save your life. And thank God. If it wasn&#8217;t for that life flight and Vanderbilt, I wouldn&#8217;t be here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>READ MORE<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/trace-adkins-mom-mayor-hometown\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trace Adkins&#8217; Mom is the Mayor of His Hometown<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He had open heart surgery again six months after the incident, and continues to get regular checkups to monitor his heart health. But despite all that, Adkins doesn&#8217;t seem to harbor any more anger toward his ex-wife now, more than three decades after the incident.<\/p>\n<p>He even had a couple of jokes when he told the story on Von&#8217;s podcast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That took it just a little far, I thought,&#8221; he said, of his ex-wife&#8217;s decision to shoot him. &#8220;That was uncalled for. Just leave. Let&#8217;s call it quits.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"photogallery-wrapper blog-photogallery \">\n<h2 class=\"photogallery-title\">Country Music&#8217;s Most Volatile Marriages<\/h2>\n<div class=\"photogallery-description\">\n<p>Country music is all about three chords and the truth, and sometimes the truth isn&#8217;t pretty. Read on to see which country stars have had the most volatile marriages over the decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"photogallery-credit\">Gallery Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/author\/sterlingwit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sterling Whitaker<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/popcrush.com\/rest\/carbon\/api\/scripts.js?mver=63&#038;gver=10&#038;bid=252&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fbtloader.com%2Ftag%3Fo%3D5642230212591616%26upapi%3Dtrue&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.p-n.io%2Fpushly-sdk.min.js%3Fdomain_key%3DQt0jyGgiLtltNrdtnDzncATqSK9PT5Eib9iw&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Ftownsquare.media%2Fpublic%2Fresources%2Fjs%2Fpubcid.min.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fplatform.twitter.com%2Fwidgets.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fapis.google.com%2Fjs%2Fplatform.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fconnect.facebook.net%2Fen_US%2Fsdk.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.pinterest.com%2Fjs%2Fpinit.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" async defer data-osano=\"ESSENTIAL\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trace Adkins has what might be the world&#8217;s best reason for holding a grudge against his second wife, Julie Curtis. On Feb. 21, 1994, she shot him\u00a0at point-blank range in the heat of an argument, and the bullet went straight through his heart and lungs. The injury nearly killed him. READ MORE: Trace Adkins Didn&#8217;t&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/townsquare.media\/site\/204\/files\/2026\/07\/attachment-traceadkins-4.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21739","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\/21739","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=21739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}