Charles Kelley, a member of the band Lady A, has been open and honest with his fans about his path to sobriety. However, there is one particular event that he has never directly addressed until recently: the moment when he came close to receiving a DUI while driving under the influence.
In an interview on Elizabeth Vargas' Heart of the Matter podcast, Kelley confesses that when he consumed alcohol, it became a regular habit for him to have "four or five drinks" while playing golf in a day, and then he would drive himself back home.
Kelley confesses that she was operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The distance she had to cover was just ten minutes, but there were instances during the drive where she realized how foolish and perilous her actions were. The following day, she reflected on the situation and realized the potential consequences, acknowledging that she could have caused harm to others or even lost her own life.
On a specific occasion, Kelley had a close call with being charged with DUI. It happened during the Christmas season, and he recalls that his wife Cassie and son Ward were away for a few days, which gave him the freedom to drink as much as he pleased without any familial responsibilities. He spent a day playing golf and consuming alcoholic beverages at a nearby bar. As the night was drawing to a close, other customers at the bar began to show worry regarding Kelley's intentions of driving back home.
He recalls saying, "I thought to myself, if I don't drive back, my wife will ask me where my car is. Even though I could have retrieved it the following morning without her knowing, she wasn't present at the time."
However, with a strong resolve to return home alone, he discreetly left through the rear exit of the bar and started driving away. Within a brief distance, he was stopped by law enforcement.
The police officer checked my driver's license and asked if I was the person in that band. I confirmed that I was indeed the person. Instead of arresting me for driving under the influence, the officer instructed me to pull over my car and he personally drove me home. He didn't issue me a ticket or any form of punishment. I was amazed and relieved, thinking that I had narrowly escaped a potentially troublesome situation.
However, the occurrence served as a reminder for Kelley that he needed to inform his spouse about what had transpired.
The singer expressed their feelings by saying that they were completely tired and fed up. They had recently been stopped by the police, and this incident had the potential to severely damage their life and cause a lot of trouble for the band. They were aware that it would have generated negative publicity, which is something they definitely wanted to avoid.
He made a firm decision to stop consuming alcohol and struggled for three months to resist the temptation, but eventually fell back into his previous habit of drinking. It took him another year to finally seek professional help and fully dedicate himself to a life of sobriety.
Following his rehabilitation, it didn't take much time for Kelly to disclose his struggle with alcohol to Lady A fans. The country trio was transparent with their supporters, explaining that they had postponed their 2022 Request Line Tour to prioritize Kelley's early stages of sobriety. This choice to be open about his journey was entirely up to Kelley. While his bandmates Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood proposed coming up with alternative reasons for not going on tour, Kelley opted for honesty.
Kelley expressed that she was not ashamed of the difficult task she had undertaken. She acknowledged that the easy option would have been to continue drinking and destroy everything. However, she chose to be grateful for the experience, which marked a turning point for her. As a result, she decided to share her story, and it has since gained momentum in a positive and beneficial manner.
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Credit for the gallery goes to Billy Dukes.
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