Country music star Trace Adkins is opening up about one of the most harrowing chapters of his life - and the forgiveness that followed it. In a new appearance on "This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von," the 64-year-old singer calmly revisited the 1994 incident in which his then-wife, Julie Curtis, shot him during an argument, sending a bullet through his heart and lungs.
Adkins said the shot came during a heated moment tied to his drinking at the time. "It was a long time ago," he told Von, adding that he never believed his ex-wife intended to kill him. "I don't think she thought she was gonna hurt me. She thought I was indestructible."
The injury nearly cost him his life - doctors performed emergency open-heart surgery, and Adkins has said his family was told to prepare for the worst. He chose not to press charges, and the couple divorced later that year.
More than three decades later, Adkins says the physical scars healed far easier than the emotional ones. "It was painful, but it didn't sear my memory," he said in an earlier interview. "It's the broken hearts that left the deepest scars."
Forgiveness of this kind - offered freely, without needing an apology first - echoes a theme found throughout Scripture, and it's one Adkins has lived out publicly for years, including his role in the faith-based film "I Can Only Imagine."
Adkins is now married to actress Victoria Pratt and continues touring, with dates on his 2026 schedule already drawing strong crowds. For fans, his willingness to revisit this story with such calm reflects a man who has made peace with his past - and isn't afraid to say so.
