Trace Adkins’ wild life – shot by ex-wife, cruise ship brawl and near-fatal crash

Trace Adkins is taking 2023 like he owns it, stepping up on stage at this year’s Memorial Day Concert.

But the country singer is lucky to have made it this far after a string of near-fatal incidents, including being shot in the heart by his ex-wife and almost dying in a slew of vehicle crashes.

Trace has been married four times – first to Barbara Lewis, then to Julie Lauren Curtis from 1991 until 1994, and then to Rhonda Forlaw in 1997 – a marriage that lasted until 2015.

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He finally tied the knot with Victoria Pratt in 2019, and the couple are a picture of marital bliss.

But his life wasn’t always this straightforward…

Shot in the heart

In 1994, Trace was shot in the heart by his second wife Julie after a furious row about his excessive drinking.

Julie attempted to call Trace’s mother before things got violent, but he threw the phone off the wall.

Julie ended up pointing a .38 pistol at him during the confrontation, and as Trace attempted to disarm her, she pulled the trigger – and the bullet ripped through his heart and lungs.

He later recalled: “Being a macho guy like I am, I tried to scare it out of her hand. I said, ‘Give me the gun, or I’m gonna take it away from you and beat your damn brains out with it’.

“I would never have done that, but I told her in hopes that it would scare her.”

It didn’t work, and the bullet pierced both lungs and both ventricles of his heart.

The singer was rushed to hospital for emergency open-heart surgery, admitting in his 2007 autobiography: “The doctors held little hope that I would survive and told my family and friends to go in and say goodbye.”

But Adkins survived, and chose not to press charges against his wife – even though he still has to undergo regular check-ups on his heart.

Slew of crashes

Trace has suffered a slew of horrific injuries over the years, and aged just 17 he was involved in a serious car accident when his truck hit a school bus head on.

He broke several ribs, punctured both lungs and had his nose partially torn off.

In 1982 when he was a construction worker, a bulldozer accident nearly lost him both his legs, and his lower body was covered in serious lacerations.

1988 saw another car accident, and landed Trace in a neck brace after flipping his truck over. Before that, a 400-barrel oil tank exploded near the singer and crushed his left leg.

Later in 2002, the singer was driving a small tractor on his farm and became pinned underneath the vehicle while building a gravel road. He suffered a crush injury to his chest, a rib-sternum separation and bruises.

A more serious incident came in 2010, when one of Trace’s tour buses was involved in a fatal accident. Two people were killed when a pickup truck crashed into the bus, though the singer was not involved.

Oil rig accident and slicing finger off

After working in construction for several years, Trace went on to land a job on an oil rig – which, of course, led to another spate of horror injuries.

While cutting open a bucket with a knife, Trace accidentally sliced off his left pinky finger. Rushed to hospital, doctors managed to reattach the digit, but it is permanently left bent at an angle.

1989 saw the outbreak of Hurricane Chantal, one of three tropical cyclones to hit Texas that year.

Trace, along with nine co-workers, were trapped on the rig during the storm, with the singer telling People Magazine: “I got to the highest part of the living quarters on the rig, so if it turned over, I was pretty well centred and could go in either direction.”

Brawl and rehab stint

Drama seems to follow Trace wherever he goes, and nowhere did that ring more true than in 2014.

In January that year, Trace was headlining a country-themed cruise heading to Jamaica, and was in the bar when a furious brawl broke out between him and – wait for it – a Trace Adkins impersonator.

Trace, who up until that point had been sober for 12 years, fell off the wagon and things collapsed into a physical fight.

Trace left the cruise ship as soon as it docked and checked himself into rehab, with his publicist confirming: “Trace has entered a treatment facility after a setback in his battle with alcoholism.

“As he faces these issues head on, we ask that his family’s privacy be respected.”

It wasn’t the Brown Chicken Brown Cow hitmaker’s first rehab stint, either. In 2002, after his tractor accident, he attended a 28-day alcohol rehabilitation programme.

He confessed: “The programme was an extremely positive experience for me. This is something I needed to do for myself, my family and my career.”

House destroyed by fire

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In 2011, Trace’s home in Tennessee was destroyed by a fire. Though Trace was travelling to Alaska at the time and his then-wife Rhonda was not home, a babysitter was looking after his kids in the house.

A spokesperson for the Brentwood Fire and Rescue Department told TMZ that the fire began in the garage and spread up the walls and to the attic.

Only one person was injured as the family had a fire plan in place – a neighbour who rushed over to help save the family dog. The dog bit him, sending the neighbour to hospital, but he made a full recovery.

Fellow country singer Blake Shelton was the one to inform Trace that his 5,000 square foot house had burned to the ground, ending in the loss of most of the memorabilia from his career.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk