Happy birthday to Trace Adkins! The singer turns 63 on January 13. To celebrate his birthday, we're taking a closer look at his life with five things to know about the country music singer.
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1. He was shot by his ex-wife.
True story! In 1994, Adkins was married to his second wife, Julie Curtis, when they had an argument, reportedly over his drinking. The argument turned violent when Curtis grabbed a gun, and aimed it at him, and could have ended his life.
"Being a macho guy like I am, I tried to scare it out of her hand," Adkins explains in his 2007 autobiography A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck (via Married Biography). "I said, 'Give me the gun, or I'm gonna take it away from you and beat your damn brains out with it.' I would never have done that, but I told her in hopes that it would scare her ... The bullet went through both my lungs and both ventricles of my heart."
Adkins reveals that the doctors "held little hope" that he would survive, and told his family and friends to say goodbye. Fortunately, he made a full recovery, and declined to press charges.
2. He had to have his pinky finger reattached.
Long before Adkins was a country music superstar, he worked on a drilling rig offshore. Adkins accidentally cut off his pinky finger while trying to open a bucket with a knife. But even then, Adkins had dreams of being in music, and asked the doctors to reattach his pinky for optimal use playing guitar.
"It wasn't going to work anymore, so they just had to fuse the joints. So, I showed him how I wanted it," Adkins tells Fox News. "I said, 'Put it like that, so I could put it around the neck of the guitar.'"
3. He is sober.
The Grand Ole Opry member's days of drinking are far behind him now. He tried a few times early in his career to quit drinking, finally becoming sober for good in 2014.
"Really, looking back, there are actually years in my life that are pretty fuzzy. I can't really remember them," Adkins admits to WCYB, adding that he is glad he has been able to kick his addiction.
"It's an extra challenge that's put in your way, but it can be overcome," he adds.
4. His favorite vacation spot is Disney World.
For a man who loves the outdoors, this one is a bit surprising, but it's true! He can by now afford to go anywhere he wants, but his favorite vacation spot is Disney World, crowds and all.
"My favorite place to go on vacation is Disney World," he tells Us Weekly. "The best thing a parent can experience is a child's innocent joy, and that's what I've seen there."
5. His daughter Brianna has a severe peanut allergy.
Adkins learned early in his parenting years how to advocate for his children. When his daughter Brianna (from his third marriage to Rhonda Forlaw) was just nine months old, she had a severe reaction after grabbing the lid to a peanut butter jar.
"There didn't seem to be any peanut butter on it, but the reaction was almost immediate," Adkins recalls (via People). "She began to swell up, to where she was almost unrecognizable when she got to the emergency room. Just from the protein on the lid."
In 2008, Adkins was the runner-up on The Celebrity Apprentice, raising $102,000 for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.
