Singer Says Disastrous Dolly Parton Tribute Was ‘Rock Bottom’ Moment

Elle King is opening up about the “rock bottom” moment she had while singing at a concert celebrating Dolly Parton’s 78th birthday last year.

King spoke about being in a period of depression at that point in her life and said things “all just kind of came to a head.”

“I think it was probably just rock bottom,” said the daughter of “Saturday Night Live” star Rob Schneider. “If it wasn’t that, it was gonna be something else.”

King said she was in a “dark situation that I can’t talk about,” related to a relationship at the time, and had already played one “perfect” show the day of the performance.

To make matters worse, she shared that she “hadn’t eaten” and hadn’t slept in days, and was suffering from “bad anxiety.”

“I took one shot of tequila when I had been drinking a martini,” she said, explaining, “I was like the tiniest I’d ever been.”

“And boom! I come to and like the curtain’s down, and it sucks ― it’s awful,” she said. “I never want to cry like that in a car ride home. I never want to wake up feeling like that ever again. I never want to feel that shame.”

“Any time Dolly Parton calls you is cool, but like I didn’t want it to be under those circumstances,” King said, adding that the legendary singer “called me to make me feel better.”

In a previous interview with comedian Chelsea Handler, King said she delivered handwritten apology letters to both Parton and the Grand Ole Opry, the legendary country venue where Parton’s birthday performances were held.

Parton has also spoken out in defense of King, telling Extra in an interview last year that people needed to “move on.”

“She’s a great girl, and she’s been going through a lot of hard things lately,” Parton said at the time. “She just had a little too much to drink, so let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, because she felt worse than anybody ever could.”