“Redneck Woman” singer Gretchen Wilson is back in the national spotlight again after winning The Masked Singer on Wednesday night (May 7). In a new interview, she reveals the devastating health struggles that have kept her away from her career for years.
“So, I got COVID. I was one of the very first to get it, and it was a heck of a round,” Wilson tells Fox News Digital.
“It left me with high blood pressure, shortness of breath, asthma — all of which I still have — and it took about two years for me to find the right doctors, cardiologists to get it all sorted, to find the right medicine to get my blood pressure down. I mean, it was pretty severe. It was bad enough that I couldn’t even do light housework without the blood pressure going up to scary levels.”
Wilson has also faced additional health challenges in recent years.
“I also shattered my leg, and I was in a wheelchair for eight months. So there was a lot that I had to work through.”
The 2000s superstar didn’t share anything she was going through via social media.
“I don’t get on my phone and go, ‘Oh, woe is me and look at me and I am so sad, boohoo,’” Wilson adds. “It’s just not my personality. So I just stayed away, figured it out. Like I said, it took a long time, but I finally got myself into a place where I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like I’m back.'”
Wilson had said no to The Masked Singer multiple times in the past before agreeing to appear as Pearl on Season 13.
“Just timing wasn’t good. I was on tour or something was happening, I’m not sure,” she tells Taste of Country. “And this time it was just a perfect moment for me. I was going through some health stuff, and I was like, in this place where it was like, if I can go do this, then I’ve still got it.
“If I can go manage to just even endure the competition … I wasn’t thinking about winning. I was just thinking about, do I have it in me at my age to come back like that and can I still get out there?” the 51-year-old admits.
“I was questioning, you know, do I still have what it takes to get out there and do 75 minutes, you know, hot festival-type shows again? And so, this was really my way of telling myself, proving to myself, do I hang it up or do I keep going? That was the reason I said yes.”
Wilson is getting back to work in more ways than one. After taking several years off the road, she resumed touring in 2024 and 2025, and she also serving as a “tour manager” on Keith Urban and Blake Shelton‘s upcoming country-themed singing competition, The Road.
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Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker
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