The Stunning Transformation Of Kellie Pickler
The following article contains references to addiction, depression, and suicide.
Country music songs often tell stories about the simpler things in life, from dirt roads and Southern manners to sweet tea and sun porches. Kellie Pickler lived those same stories as a young girl growing up in a small North Carolina town, where Sunday morning service and backyard barbecues were the way of life. Nowadays, the star walks the red carpet in designer dresses and sings for packed stadiums — a far different reality from how she lived as a child.
Pickler didn't have much to her name when she packed up and drove to Greensboro to try out for "American Idol" in 2005. Running on big dreams and her faith, the country star made it to the finals, where she gained enough momentum to earn a ticket to Hollywood and a record deal. While she didn't leave the show as a winner, Pickler launched an illustrious career that spanned five Billboard Hot 100 hits, an Academy of County Music Awards nomination, and landed her an Emmy-nominated talk show gig.
While she's earned her spot as one of country music's most respected artists, the "Best Days of Your Life" singer has endured her fair share of challenges and tragic moments. Pickler's less-than-perfect childhood was characterized by absent parents and a turbulent home, but she played the hand she was dealt and turned her memories into melodies. From a small-town girl to an "American Idol" finalist to becoming a legendary artist and loving wife, Pickler has undergone quite an evolution. Here's a look at the stunning transformation of Kellie Pickler.
Her heartbreaking childhood
Like many stars before her, Kellie Pickler didn't have a picture-perfect childhood. With her father in and out of jail and her mother leaving when she was just a toddler, Pickler was left to be raised by her paternal grandparents. The "American Idol" finalist revisited some of the more difficult memories she had growing up when she shot the music video for her 2012 track "Mother's Day," which tells the story of a girl yearning for the love of her mother.
Pickler previously told Us Weekly (via New York Post), that her mother's erratic behavior still sticks with her today. "I remember my mother and I were in the kitchen and I said, 'I wish God would take me away, I'd much rather be dead than live here with you,'" she recalled. "She took a knife out, set it on the counter and said, 'Here, do it then.'"
Her parents' absence meant that she shouldered the load for the rest of her family. "When I left school, I was clocking into another job. I had other siblings that I was taking care of," she told The Boot. "I had to learn how to almost be a homemaker in a way." Pickler also had the unfortunate reality of having to visit her father in jail, as he was in and out of trouble with the law throughout her childhood and her rise to fame. " ... It was a battle to have to go and visit him in the penitentiary as a child, but that was so normal for me," she explained.
Kellie Pickler's grandmother inspired her to sing
Without her mother to lean on, Kellie Pickler's grandmother became the next best thing. The "Red High Heels" singer opened up about how her grandmother Faye helped encourage her to follow her dreams from a young age, and would often sing Christian hymns with Pickler when she was growing up. With a small path connecting her grandmother's house to her own, the two formed an inseparable bond.
"After Mom took off and Dad's troubles got worse, I got to know that path pretty well," she wrote in a blog post. "Seemed I was running toward Grandma's more often than heading home." Once the "Feeling Tonight" singer was old enough to go to school, she started living with her grandparents full-time. "Grandma and I would sit together on the porch with that book in our laps and sing our way right through it," said Pickler. "I got lost in those songs. If I was feeling sad, mixed-up or scared before we started, by the time we were a couple bars in, my troubles took a backseat."
Pickler dedicated her debut album "Small Town Girl" to Faye, and her grandmother also inspired the singer's heartfelt track "My Angel." In the track, she sings, "There's never been/Never been another/That loved me like you did/My grandmother, my angel."
Faye died of lung cancer just a day after her diagnosis in 2002, but Pickler still keeps her memory alive. "Not a day goes by that I don't miss your sweet angel face ... I love you and will forever be your baby girl ... " she wrote in an Instagram tribute in 2018.
Her big break on 'American Idol'
Kellie Pickler didn't know what awaited her when she left her small town in North Carolina to audition for "American Idol." The "Don't Close Your Eyes" singer was just 19 years old when the fate of her singing career rested in the hands of Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Simon Cowell. At the time, she had no idea her voice would soon take her much farther than a paycheck from a fast food joint.
"I was roller-skating burgers out at Sonic and trying to figure out what am I gonna do with my life," She told E! News. "I got in line for 'Idol' and it was obviously the rocket that launched my career, but it was God that was the fuel." Three votes from the judges sent Pickler on her first plane ride ever — straight to Hollywood. The country star battled her way to sixth place before being eliminated from the show, but her journey didn't stop there. The "American Idol" finalist signed a record deal with BNA Records in 2006, just months after leaving the show.
While performing on an "American Idol" tour, Pickler got to work writing hits. " ... I'd come off the stage, get in the car and run to the nearest studio," she told The Boot. "Everyone can't believe it when I tell them this, but the songs I did write on the first album — 'I Wonder' and 'Red High Heels' — I actually wrote over the phone!" The songs were successes, both landing in the Top 15 and cementing her status as a star.
Kellie Pickler struggled with depression
Kellie Pickler's success is much like what some consider to be the American dream, but building a career in the spotlight took a toll on the fledgling country star. In 2008, the singer admitted in an interview with People that family problems and a breakup resulted in a year-long depression. "Everything in my professional life seemed great," she confessed. "But in my personal life, I was just crumbling." At the time, the star was fresh off a breakup with professional hockey athlete Jordin Tootoo, who believes his former bad boy ways became the fuel for Pickler's breakup anthem "Best Days of Your Life."
"I was an emotional wreck," said the singer, who admitted her problems came to a head when her father was sent back to prison around the same time her mother Cynthia Malone reappeared in in 2007. Malone opened up about her relationship with her daughter in an interview with Fox 8, admitting "Leaving my baby [was the worst thing I felt] ... Leaving my baby. That was the hardest decision I had to make." Despite her public plea, Pickler maintained her stance that the two did not have a relationship.
Fresh off her "Idol" fame, Pickler says she started taking antidepressants to combat her depression, but she was forced to stop taking them due to the unfavorable side effects. The "American Idol" finalist ultimately found solace in a new relationship with songwriter Kyle Jacobs, as well as fellow country stars Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, which motivated her to launch her sophomore album "Kellie Pickler."
She found love with Kyle Jacobs
After mending her broken heart, Kellie Pickler found love again with Nashville songwriter Kyle Jacobs. The pair started dating around 2008, and the singer gushed to People at the time about their budding romance. "He makes me feel so good about being me," she admitted. The pair went on to get engaged in 2010 and tie the knot the following year in the Caribbean. Their elopement wasn't complete without their a touch of personality for Jacobs' wedding ring, with Pickler engraving the date of their wedding, "1-1-11," on one side and the words "Put it back on!" on the other, as she shared on "The Ellen Show."
The couple spent their honeymoon giving back, and they took a trip together overseas to visit military troops. "It's one of the more beautiful things that we've ever done," Jacobs admitted on the "Talk to Chuck" podcast, with Pickler chiming in to say her husband's "got a good heart! He's a good man."
The two were more than just life partners, but business partners as well. Jacobs produced several songs for successful country artist Lee Brice, and he later worked together with his wife on her track "Feeling Tonight" in 2015. "Yes, it's true, I'm sleeping with my producer!" Pickler joked to People about their multi-faceted relationship. "I'm so excited to be in the studio again recording a new album, and working with Kyle has been amazing," she exclaimed. "He has watched me perform for years, so it was great to have a front-row seat as an artist and see him in his element."
Kellie Pickler shed 40 pounds on a DIY diet
Kellie Pickler shed 40 pounds after going on tour, and she didn't need fancy fad diets or trainers to do it. The singer opened up to OK! Magazine about her weight loss, admitting she was inspired to make a lifestyle change after gaining weight on tour. The singer had been indulging with her pregnant friend and road pal when the pounds started to pack on. "She gained about 35-40 lbs., and I gained about 35-40 lbs.," Pickler explained, adding that she hadn't realized she gained weight due to her forgiving blue jeans.
The "American Idol" finalist embarked on a year-and-a-half-long mission to lose weight, committing herself to lowering her sugar intake. "It's about training your mind ... Just because Diet Coke is Diet Coke, it doesn't mean that it's healthy," she explained. "You can have a Diet Coke every now and then, but you can't drink it every day. Soft drinks — bad, bad! Don't drink soft drinks — horrible!"
Despite her strict diet, Pickler admits she is only human. She treats herself on occasion — especially if it's Krispy Kreme doughnuts. "I have one every now and then, but only when the 'hot' sign is on," she confessed. "Don't do it unless it's worth it. If you're going to do it, make it good." As for the gym, Pickler isn't a big fan. "I don't want to go to the gym — it's boring," she explained. Instead, she opts for scenic hikes, like the 4-hour-long trek she took up a mountaintop in St. Lucia with Kyle Jacobs to celebrate their first anniversary.
She became a reality television star
Reality television usually comes knocking on the doors of many former celebrity couples, whether it's Kristin Cavallari and Jay Culter or Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. The only difference between those celebs and Kellie Pickler and her husband Kyle Jacobs is that sharing their lives with millions of fans didn't result in the end of their marriage. Pickler and Jacobs got their feet wet in the world of reality television when they starred in their own CMT series "I Love Kellie Pickler" in 2015. The show followed their lives together in Nashville as they worked together to produce music and navigate marriage life.
Filming the show together was a new experience for the couple, but an adventure the two were happy to embark on. "We feel like we're in a safe place where we can just be us and there's just a lot of freedom," Pickler said of the show in an interview for BUILD Series. "This is the most concentrated time that we've spent together in our marriage ... This has given us the chance to spend a lot of time together," added Jacobs.
The docu-series lasted for three seasons on the network, with the final episode airing in 2017. After dipping her feet in the reality television pond, Pickler returned to music, releasing her single "If It Wasn't for a Woman" in 2017.
She reunited with her father when he was released from prison
Shortly after Kellie Pickler was eliminated from "American Idol" in 2006, the country star's father was released from prison. The "Don't Close Your Eyes" singer spoke openly about her father being in and out of prison while on the show, and she admitted that talking honestly about it helped her cope with her less-than-perfect upbringing. "It was embarrassing and I didn't want to hurt my dad, but I knew if I didn't come out in the beginning ... that people would find out about it anyway," she told MTV. "The most important thing you can do is be honest. And I'm not ashamed about my life anymore."
Pickler admitted that reuniting with her dad after leaving "Idol" marked the first time in over three years that they had seen each other in person. "In spite of everything we've been through, I love him. He's my dad. I've always been a daddy's girl. He's made a lot of mistakes in life, but who hasn't?" The singer decided to let bygones be bygones, and she even took her father as her guest at the CMT Awards in 2010.
The North Carolina native wrote about the up-and-down relationship with her father in her 2012 track "The Letter (to Daddy)." In the track, Pickler sings about his bouts with alcohol addiction, saying, "The bottle took you from me/When I was a child/Robbed me of the love I needed/Robbed me of a smile." In 2019, Clyde passed away at the age of 54, with reports suggesting he suffered a heart attack.
Kellie Pickler's husband's shocking suicide
Kellie Pickler endured a heartbreaking tragedy when her husband Kyle Jacobs committed suicide in February 2023. According to a police report obtained by People, the singer awoke to find her husband missing and called the police when she and her assistant couldn't get into a room in their shared Nashville home. Autopsy results later confirmed the songwriter had committed suicide. While Jacobs had no drugs in his system at the time of his death, reports detailed his history of "pseudoseizures, gastrointestinal bleeding, elevated liver enzymes, and chronic alcohol use."
The shocking incident put a hiatus on Pickler's career, and she was forced to call off a future tour and leave her position as host of the Sirius XM show "The Highway." After remaining silent for months, the singer finally made a statement in August 2023. "One of the most beautiful lessons my husband taught me was in a moment of a crisis if you don't know what to do, 'do nothing, just be still,'" she told People, adding, "I have chosen to heed his advice." The "American Idol" star went on to thank her supporters for their love and kind words, saying "It has truly touched my soul and it's helping me get through the darkest time in my life."
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.