Country singer Ingrid Andress, who made national headlines last year for a drunk and out-of-tune performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the MLB Home Run Derby, is opening up about the toll of the “public humiliation” she endured.
“It broke my heart,” she told Rolling Stone about the response on social media. “I had to stop reading comments because I couldn’t handle how deeply it hurt.”
She added that in the middle of last summer’s heated presidential campaign, it felt like she was on the one thing Americans could agree on.
“I felt like America’s punching bag. I became a way to unite America. It was like, ‘At least we can all agree that this girl botched the anthem,’” Andress told the magazine. “I’ll be the punching bag for sure, but I didn’t commit a crime. It felt very extreme for what the situation was.”
A day after the performance, the “More Hearts Than Mine” singer admitted she was drunk, apologized for her performance and left for more than a month of rehab followed by six months of living quietly in her home state of Colorado.
“I feel like I’ve gotten to know myself again, which is probably the biggest gift of all of it,” she told Rolling Stone. “I learned to not ever let your past dictate what you can do in the future. Sometimes it takes a little public humiliation to turn your life around.”
Andress performed the national anthem at a hockey game last week to cheers as she showed off the voice that earned her four Grammy nominations and three CMA award nominations.
“We’re back baby,” she wrote on YouTube.
She’s also back with a new song, “Footprints,” about mistakes and growth.
“Without the mistakes in my life, I would not be the person I am today, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have the stories to pass on about my journey,” she wrote in the description on her Youtube page. “We have to talk about our mistakes in order for our success to make sense.”
Check out the new tune below: