Elle King Is 'Mortified' by Her Drunken Tribute to Dolly Parton and Reveals How the Country Legend Reacted

• Elle King shared with Chelsea Handler exactly what happened the night of her Grand Ole Opry performance
• The singer admitted how “shaken” she was by the role in the Dolly Parton tribute
• King revealed how the country star responded to her apology

Elle King has opened up about her drunk performance at the Dolly Parton tribute at the Grand Ole Opry in January — and the backlash she faced afterward.

King, 34, spoke with Chelsea Handler about the comedian’s latest episode Dear Chelsea podcast, revealing exactly what happened on the night of her “really crazy” performance.

“So I made a big no, no. Not only was I cursing on stage, hitting the Grand Ole Opry, but it was Dolly Parton’s birthday and the Opry was honoring Dolly Parton,” King began.

“I didn’t talk about it because, first, I had to cool down. It was a big deal,” King explained, adding that there were two performances at that January 19 celebration.

“I was going through something very difficult and traumatic in my life at the time, and that day was a really big day of dealing with what I was going through — and then still going through — and suffering from, like, severe PTSD,” King said. . The singer noted that she hadn’t eaten or slept in “days”, leaving her feeling “really tired” and “like a shell [herself].”

Elle King performs at CMA Fest in Nashville in June 2023.

Jason Kempin/Getty

King explained that she wasn’t originally supposed to perform that night, but “this other singer who was supposed to be the lead dropped out like three hours before,” and was then asked to be the lead and sing “Jolene.”

“I take one hit too many and I’m just not there in my body. I’m not there. I don’t remember that,” she said. “Now I know what I said. I said, ‘I’m Elle King, and I’m fucking shaken.’ The curtain came down on me. This just blows my mind. I was completely, 100% disconnected. I just went into the dressing room, I’m on the floor just sobbing, ‘What have I done?’ And then the next day it was like everywhere. Everywhere, everywhere.”

I was humbled, King said. “I wrote a letter of apology to the Opry by hand. I wrote an apology letter to Dolly by hand.” King revealed that Parton, 78, called her a few days later, adding that the legendary singer is “literally proof that angels exist.”

“She just gave me really nice words and said, ‘Well, Dolly’s not mad at you, why should the world be?’ [She] made me laugh. That is the kindness of women,” King added. “Those are the things I got that I’ll never forget, never, because I wanted to fucking die.”

Elle King performs at Summerfest in Milwaukee in June 2023.

PolkImaging/Penske Media via Getty Images

Elle King broke her silence after a drunken Dolly Parton performance in honor of: ‘I’m Human’

King admitted that because the public response “wasn’t any better,” she removed herself “from the population for a while.”

“Regardless of what I’ve done in my life and what’s been going on — that I don’t feel like I owe it to anybody in the fucking world to try to explain — I also don’t think it’s worth apologizing for the fact that maybe I shouldn’t have been fucking drinking,” King continued.

“This is like a sacred stage and I blew it,” she admitted. “For all the people who are apologizing to me, hey, if you were there that night and I didn’t get a chance to tell you I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Ella King promo photo for ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’.

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty

Two months after the performance, the singer publicly apologized on Instagram. “To everyone sending me love because I’m human and I’ve already talked to Dolly 💅 I love you,” she wrote in an Instagram video. “To everyone who told me to kill myself, I love you too.”

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Dolly Parton hopes fans will ‘forgive’ and ‘forget’ Elle King’s Drunken Grand Ole Opry incident: ‘She’s a great girl’

But King revealed to Handler, 49, that even after she apologized, people would say she was an “unfit mother”, should “surrender” her son Lucky Levi, 2, and should commit suicide.

“Maybe I had a little bit of aggression built up from that… the people who sent me those messages weren’t at the show. Dolly even said, no one will be harder on me than I am. I was very, very hard on myself and I am humbled.”

Handler chimed in, adding, “We all make mistakes like that. Everyone makes mistakes, whether it’s this kind of mistake or another, it doesn’t matter.”

Elle King performs on stage at the ACM Awards in Nashville in April 2021.

Kevin Mazur/Getty for ACM

King was then quick to say that the incident motivated her to make changes in her life, leading her to “become a stronger person.”

“I’m not grateful for it, but at the same time, I can find something good in literally everything,” she said. “I’m going to choose to use this as a tool not to defeat me, but to hopefully make me a better person and learn from my mistakes.”

King then stated, “I don’t drink before I go up there and sing, and those are the best shows I’ve ever played. I’m proud to say that.”

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Line by dialing 988, texting “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Line at 741741 or going to 988lifeline.org.

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Source: HIS Education