Country singer Ingrid Andress has relived stepping into a packed stadium and drunkenly sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in her first interview since leaving a rehab facility.
The 4-time Grammy nominee’s “worst moment” happened in mid-July at Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby, after which she admitted she was drunk.
“It only took, you know, global humiliation for me to be like ‘this is a problem,’” Andress said ron “The Viall Files” podcast Thursday.
The songstress, known for booze-related hits like “Wishful Drinking” and “Waste of Lime,” admitted to walking out on the field that day “not caring” how her performance was going to go.
In the daring display at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, the vocalist gave a pitchy and slurry rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“I was so gone that afterward, I thought that I like, kind of nailed it,” the 33-year-old shared.
When the songwriter woke up the following day, it was the first time she realized there was a serious problem.
“I was like ‘okay, this is so unlike me, like, this is not okay,” she recalled.
Before the botched performance, the Colorado native said she was drinking heavily for over three months following a series of events.
“I didn’t realize how much I didn’t let myself process those emotions of grief,” Andress said, adding that her sister moved out of her house, she split with her first-ever manager and broke up with her “very serious boyfriend” all at once.
Following the National Anthem ordeal, Andress released a statement without approval from her team.
“I’m not gonna bulls–t y’all, I was drunk last night. I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need,” Andress wrote in a statement on social media at the time.
Hours later, she was in a rehab facility without her phone and then spent six months “off the grid” recentering herself in Colorado.
“I’m fine with being America’s punching bag,” she said, looking back on the debacle.
Her viral moment happened two days after President Trump was shot in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania and during a time when Democrats were calling on former President Biden to drop out of the race.
“For one moment, everybody was united in the fact that I was awful so I feel like I united America in a way,” she quipped.
“You got to see me in my worst moment,” Andress said. “So now, hopefully everything from here will be great.”
Andress was contacted by other country music artists, including Kelsea Ballerini and Elle King, who also made waves with her own drunken set during a concert honoring Dolly Parton at The Grand Ole Opry.
Andress stepped back into the spotlight by releasing a new single and successfully singing the national anthem at a Colorado Avalanche game on Feb. 28.
