Ingrid Andress says she was more than happy to give up her phone when she rehabilitated last July. Two days earlier, she drunkenly inserted a national anthem at the Major League baseball event, and the social media blew out Savaga comments.
“This was my first taste of what it is to be an American punching bag, if you want,” says the 33-year-old People artist.
But no one punished Andres more than themselves. For months, she drowned her emotions in alcohol, unable to deal with losses in her life. When she took the microphone at the MLB derby for running almost 40,000 baseball fans in Texas, she was “completely stunned”.
The striking, tortured performance attracted direct Jeers, but Andress did not fully understand the damage she inflicted on – to the song or herself – until she faced a sober morning. Her first thought: “This is not what I am.” Her other: “I need help.”
Ingrid Andres apologize for the viral national anthem because she reveals that she was ‘drunk’ and goes to rehabilitation
Within 48 hours, she announced an apology and applied to the Utah Treatment Center. She knew her job was cut. Not only should she face serious life issues, she also had to face her public humiliation – which she calls “My worst nightmare.”
Says Andress: “Half of what I did in rehab, she treated a huge shame.”
The other half came with even more pain as she finally dealt with losses. In the previous year, she split with her longtime manager and a boy who lives, who, he says, had expectations in marriage. She launched divisions, she explains, after realizing that she had not shared their paths.
“It was the feeling that I think I was spending this person’s time,” Andress says. “I was like, I don’t know if I want the same things you do, but I don’t want to figure it out with you.”
Because the decisions were hers, she did not allow her to grieve. “Everyone was like,” Well, next, “he remembers.” And I was like, “Yes, I guess that’s the case.” In the meantime, it was like you should have done?
Andress soon drank more than he had ever had in his life. “Instead of seeking help – because I didn’t know how – I was just like that, drinking better,” she says.
Once in rehabilitation, she says, she fully understood the damage she had done to herself. “It’s less in what you use, and that’s why,” she says. She learned to ask herself, “Why do I use this? What do you hope to fix it?” And then she learned to admit that alcohol “doesn’t repair.”
Who is Ingrid Andress? All about the singer who became viral after a ‘drunken’ performance in the anthem
Everyday therapy was digging deep into her upbringing, part of her life she was not ready to deal with.
“I felt so raw,” she says. “I was like, I think this is the best time to talk about it because I cry every day. But in the end it was such a healing time because I actually had room to completely fall apart.”
Andress grew up in Colorado, the second of five children, in the sheltered and strict Christian household, and therapy helped her understand how much that background had done “mortally scared” for mistakes. This also helped her to separate her identity from her actions – a turning point in her struggle to cope with shy of anthem.
“It’s a very unpleasant moment,” she says, “but the amount of shame you feel after something like that has to do more with the way you process your mistakes – and if you let yourself be messing up. It’s amazing. I actually realized how much pressure on yourself you say you can’t mess up. It’s like you can’t breathe.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciazpgwq_w
Ingrid Andress, “Prints”
Gradually, she says, she started composing pieces. Group therapy, she says, has offered additional help “learn how to talk about her emotions with other people, instead of inserting them. And then listening to other people’s stories is so healing.”
She also found healing and in outdoor activities (“I’m really good at Pickkleball”) in Mount Utah Mountain, reminiscent of where she grew up near Denver. In fact, after completing a month of treatment, Andress spent several months of charging in his home country. At the time she sat down and finally watched the video anthem.
Ingrid Andress returns to the reflectors to sing the national anthem 7 months after ejecting the appearance, the rehabilitation application
Ingrid Andress performs in February 2025 at Ball Arena in Denver.
Michael Martin/Croenke Sports & Entertainment
She wouldn’t allow herself, she says, “Until I knew I could look at it with empathy for the singing girl.” As she watched, she says, all she could think of was, “Oh, that miserable, poor girl!”
In a way, she says, she feels grateful to her debacle now: that’s what got her help so quickly. She also found that she could actually survive her worst fear.
Is there anything she is afraid of now?
“Oooh, not much,” Andress says after a long thought.
Not even the fear of failure to fulfill her potential?
“Maybe,” he says, “but I feel like when I thought it was what I should do, it’s like the universe has a different plan. And so, just like, good enough for me to be who I am.”
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Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education