Trace Adkins has lived through enough danger for several lifetimes, but one chapter from his past still shocks fans more than almost anything else.
During a new appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, the country star reflected on the 1994 incident in which his second wife, Julie Curtis, shot him during an argument. The bullet went through his heart and lungs, and Adkins had to be airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for emergency open-heart surgery.
More than 30 years later, Adkins says he has forgiven her.
His reason is complicated, painful and surprisingly calm.
The Argument Happened During a Troubled Marriage
The shooting happened in 1994, during Adkins’ marriage to Julie Curtis.
According to PEOPLE, the argument was tied to Adkins’ drinking, an issue he has spoken about openly over the years. Curtis was angry and wanted him to leave, but Adkins refused. As the confrontation escalated, she pointed a gun at him.
Adkins later described the moment with his typical dry humor, saying the situation was “uncalled for” and that they could have simply called it quits without taking things that far.
But behind the humor was a life-threatening injury.
The Bullet Went Through His Heart and Lungs
Adkins said the gun was under his left arm when it fired.
The bullet passed straight through his body, going through his heart and lungs before exiting under his right arm. He described it as a “kill shot,” and doctors later told him that he survived partly because the bullet moved through him at point-blank velocity and did not have time to expand.
He was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where surgeons performed emergency open-heart surgery. Adkins has credited the LifeFlight transport and Vanderbilt medical team with saving his life.
It was the kind of injury many people would not survive.
Adkins did.
He Chose Not to Press Charges
One of the most surprising parts of the story is that Adkins did not press charges against Curtis.
Taste of Country has previously reported that despite the severity of the shooting, Adkins chose not to pursue charges, and the couple divorced later that same year.
That decision has always made the story even more complicated.
From the outside, it is hard to understand how someone could survive something so serious and still choose not to take legal action.
But Adkins has explained that he did not believe Curtis fully understood what would happen when she pulled the trigger.
Why Trace Adkins Says He Forgave Her
Adkins told Theo Von that he does not think Curtis truly meant to shoot him.
He said he had never seen her hold or fire a gun before and believed she may not have understood the damage it would cause. According to PEOPLE, Adkins said he did not think she had “any idea what that gun was gonna do.”
That belief is why he says he forgave her.
He also suggested that she may have thought of him as almost indestructible, as if she did not fully grasp the reality of what a gunshot could do.
It is a difficult explanation, but it reveals how Adkins has chosen to process one of the darkest moments of his life.
He Later Said Physical Pain Was Not the Worst Part
Adkins has survived more than one terrifying physical injury.
Taste of Country notes that before and during his country career, he lived through a head-on car crash, a bulldozer accident, an oil tank explosion, a severed and reattached pinky finger, and the 1994 shooting.
But Adkins has said the physical pain is not what stayed with him the most.
In a previous PEOPLE interview, he said broken bones, surgeries, bullets and cuts never bothered him as much as emotional pain. “It’s the broken hearts that left the deepest scars,” he said.
That line may explain why he talks about the shooting differently than many people expect.
The bullet nearly killed him.
But the emotional wreckage of the relationship seems to have lasted even longer.
The Shooting Happened Before His Breakthrough
At the time of the shooting, Adkins had not yet become the major country star fans know today.
He would release his debut album, Dreamin’ Out Loud, in 1996. The project launched his mainstream country career and introduced him to radio with songs like “Every Light in the House.”
That means this near-fatal moment happened before fame, before the hits and before his deep baritone voice became one of the most recognizable sounds in country music.
It was part of the hard, messy life that existed before the spotlight.
His Past Has Always Been Part of His Image
Trace Adkins has never had the polished, untouched image of a manufactured country star.
His story has always felt rough around the edges.
He worked on oil rigs.
He survived brutal injuries.
He struggled with alcohol.
He went through multiple marriages.
And he turned a hard life into a country career built on grit, survival and a voice that sounds like it has weathered every storm it sings about.
That is why fans respond when he opens up about stories like this.
They are not just shocking anecdotes.
They are part of the life that shaped him.
He Still Gets His Heart Checked
The shooting left lasting medical consequences.
Taste of Country reported that Adkins still has regular heart checkups because of the damage from the gunshot wound.
That detail is easy to overlook, but it matters.
Forgiveness does not erase the physical reality of what happened.
Adkins may speak about the incident with humor and distance now, but his body still carries the evidence.
The Story Is Shocking Because of His Calmness
What makes Adkins’ retelling so striking is not only the violence of the event.
It is the way he talks about it.
He does not sound consumed by bitterness.
He does not turn the story into a revenge tale.
He jokes, reflects and explains it with the perspective of someone who has had decades to live with the memory.
That does not make the shooting any less serious.
It simply shows how Adkins has chosen to survive emotionally as well as physically.
A Country Star Who Lived to Tell the Story
Trace Adkins could have died in 1994.
Instead, he survived, recovered, divorced, built a country music career and became one of the genre’s most recognizable voices.
Now, more than 30 years later, he is still talking about the incident with a mixture of disbelief, humor and forgiveness.
Some fans may never fully understand how he reached that place.
But Adkins seems clear on one thing:
He does not believe his ex-wife truly meant to kill him.
And after everything he has lived through, he has chosen not to carry that moment as hatred.
For Trace Adkins, the bullet left a scar.
But the forgiveness may be what says the most about the man who survived it.
