Trace Adkins recalls surviving ex-wife's 'kill shot' despite bullet passing through his heart and lungs
A country music star has recalled the terrifying moment his ex-wife shot him at point blank range.
Trace Adkins was opening up about the horrific experience on the podcast This Past Weekend with Theo Von, where he revealed he has been married four times.
The Ladies Love Country Boys singer said his wife may have 'took it a little far', when she asked him to leave, before pulling a gun and shooting him.
He told Theo Von: "She was mad. Wanted me to leave, and I wasn't going to leave, so that's how it went down. She put it under my left arm and the bullet came out under my right arm."
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Adkins tried to stop her, approaching her slowly with his hand out, asking her to put down the gun.
She didn't listen, and instead fired.
Theo von then asked him what it's like to be shot, to which Adkins responded that he didn't feel much as his body 'just went into shock'.
He said: "When the situation is that serious, your body protects you - you just go into shock."
Adkins said that he only remembers 'getting up off the floor, taking a few steps then going back down'.
"The doctor said the only reason I survived was cause the bullet went through as point-blank velocity at muzzle velocity.
"So it didn't have time to mushroom. It was just muzzle velocity, so it went straight through."
He later described it as a 'kill-shot'.
According to the National Library of Medicine, about 60% to 70% of people who sustain a gunshot wound in the United States survive. Survival rates depend heavily on the intent of the injury, the body part hit, and access to rapid trauma care.
An estimated 327 people are shot each day in the United States, with about 117 dying from their injuries and 210 surviving.
Despite the severity and close proximity of the shot, Adkins didn't press charges against his ex-wife.
When asked if he thought his wife was trying to kill him, he told Theo Von that 'he didn't think so'.
"I don't think she even had any idea what that gun was going to do, I'd never seen her hold a gun, I'd never seen her shoot a gun," he added.
"I knew she had one, but I'd never seen her use it. I had a bunch of guns, still have a bunch of guns, and I shoot them pretty often, but I'd never seen her do that and I just don't think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger. She thought it was a toy."
Who has Trace Atkins been married to?
His wife at the time of the shooting was Julie Curtis, his second wife. The incident occurred back in 1994 and perhaps unsuprisngly the couple split later that year.
He had previously been wed to Barbara Lewis, Rhonda Forlaw, and he is currently married to Canadian actress Victoria Pratt, who he married in 2019.
Topics: True crime, Music
Thomas Bamford