Trace Adkins Explains Why He Isn’t Angry At His Ex-Wife For Shooting Him In The Heart
on Jul 29, 2026
Trace Adkins was nearly killed when he was shot by his ex-wife, Julie Curtis. However, the country star says he doesn’t hold a grudge.
Adkins talked about the incident during an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, which was released on Tuesday, July 28.
Even though he barely survived, the country star looked back on it with some humor while sharing the story.
“That took things a little far, I thought. That was uncalled for. That was totally uncalled for. Just leave,” Adkins joked about getting shot. “Let’s just call it quits. We don’t have to go that far, you know.”
It all happened in 1994 during an argument between Adkins and Curtis, who was his second wife at the time.
During the heated moment, Curtis pulled out a gun. Adkins tried to take it away from her in self-defense, but the gun went off. The bullet went through his left arm, traveled through his heart and lungs, and exited through his right arm.
Trace Adkins Says He Doesn’t Blame His Ex-Wife
Adkins never pressed charges against Curtis, even after having to undergo emergency open-heart surgery to save his life. Surprisingly, the 64-year-old says he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward her over what happened.
“I’d never seen her hold a gun, I’d never seen her shoot a gun. I knew she had one, but I’d never seen her use it,” he said. “I don’t think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger. She thought it was a toy.”
Adkins and Curtis divorced later that year. In a 2022 interview with PEOPLE, the “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” singer opened up about the incident, saying he believes it simply “wasn’t my time to go.”
“It was painful, but it didn’t sear my memory,” he told the outlet. “The physical pain — broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut — has never really bothered me. I have a high tolerance for it. It’s the broken hearts that left the deepest scars.”
After his marriage to Curtis ended, Adkins went on to marry Rhonda Forlaw in 1996, however the two later divorced in 2014.
He managed to find love again in 2019 when he married actress Victoria Pratt in a small ceremony that was officiated by Blake Shelton.
