Lady A’s Charles Kelley admitted when it came to his alcoholism, he was in denial because he wasn’t “living on the street” or “waking up in a bush.”
But his marriage to Cassie McConnell almost ended during a vacation to Greece after the country star stayed out all night drinking after a fight.
“At that point, I thought I was fully flying back to the U.S., going to meet with a divorce attorney, like, that was it,” McConnell told Gayle King in a CBS interview Wednesday.
LADY A PRESSES PAUSE ON TOUR AS SINGER CHARLES KELLEY FOCUSES ON ‘JOURNEY TO SOBRIETY’
Charles Kelley said he went to rehab after an incident in Greece that almost ended their marriage. (Rick Diamond/WireImage)
“Basically, we got in an argument, and I, like, just turned my phone off in, you know, the middle of nowhere and just took off and stayed up drinking with all these like random people I didn’t know,” Kelley explained.
“I had one of those moments where I’m just like, ‘I’m so sick of being told what to do,’ and I turned off the phone. I didn’t realize I had eight of my friends looking for me all night.”
McConnell said she “never went to sleep” that night. In the morning, when he returned to the hotel, she told him he “needed help,” and he said he “knew.”
Charles Kelley’s wife Cassie McConnell said she “never went to sleep” the night he turned off his phone and went drinking in Greece. (Getty Images)
“He made a plan with his manager, and he flew directly from Greece to treatment,” she added.
And while McConnell thought their marriage was over, “I think ultimately when I thought about, well, we have a 7-year-old who is either going to be in my home all the time or he’s gonna be half the time in a home with his dad, where I have no idea what’s happening in that environment.
“And, in order for me to take myself out of his life every day, it just never got to be that bad. Until it just is, you know. And that’s kind of where we were leaving Greece.”
The “You Look Good” singer said it “crushed” him to hear from McConnell that their son Ward had noticed his drinking.
“Cassie would tell me some stories about how little things that Ward would say that I didn’t even know he was noticing. You know, ‘Daddy’s talking a little funny’ or, you know, ‘You and daddy are — y’all argue a lot.’”
The 41-year-old added that Ward is the “most important thing in my life.”
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Charles Kelley, left, said bandmates Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood also expressed their concern over his drinking. (John Shearer/Getty Images for CMT/Viacom)
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Kelley’s bandmates, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, also “sat” him “down” around five years ago to address his drinking.
“It was the first time that they had really, you know,” he said. “I think it was more, just, ‘I’m worried about you.'”
And while he said at the time he argued that it hadn’t affected his work or their shows, “it was more about how I would speak to them when I was drinking. I’d be very dismissive, very quick. You know, there was never any physical stuff but very emotional and verbal outbursts. I could recognize that that was alcohol induced for sure.”
Lady A postponed its tour last year when Kelley went to rehab. (Gary Gershoff/WireImage)
Kelley was “scared to death” when he entered rehab for the first time after the incident in Greece.
He had always said his drinking wasn’t bad enough for him to need rehab in the past.
“But what I’ve learned is there’s degrees of alcoholics … Just because you’re not living on the street or waking up in a bush like some stories you may hear, it can get there,” Kelley said.
Kelley attends “a lot of meetings” and breathes into a breathalyzer every night and morning to rebuild the “trust” with his family and his band.
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“I’m really proud of him,” McConnell said. “It’s not easy to walk through, and it’s not easy to, you know, stay connected and to just put your head down and do the work — because it is a lot of work. Because he keeps showing up every day, I get to keep showing up every day and our family gets to be intact. So I’m really, really proud of him.”
Kelley responded. “I couldn’t do it without her support. I feel a lot of love.”
The band, which postponed its tour last year so Kelley could enter rehab, has returned to the stage with its “Request Line Tour.”
