Tammy Wynette Once Said She ‘Didn’t Even Have a Personality’ Until After Divorce From George Jones

Legendary country music star Tammy Wynette once revealed that she “didn’t even have a personality” until after her divorce from George Jones. Even though she had already experienced success as a solo act before she met him, she was “petrified” to perform without him after their marriage because she was “a total wreck.”

Tammy Wynette said she had ‘a lot of good years’ with George Jones before their divorce, but also ‘some bad years’

During an interview with Larry King, Wynette reflected on her marriage to Jones, which ended in divorce in 1975. “We had a lot of good years, [and] we had some bad years. It didn’t work out for us,” she said.

According to Wynette, she might have approached Jones’ addiction behaviors differently “had [she] known more about drug addiction and alcohol addiction.”

“Since I had my drug problem … maybe I could have understood his problem a little bit more,” she explained. “And, you know, with AA and all the support programs, maybe I could have helped him more.”

However, Wynette added, she “couldn’t understand it.”

“I had never known anybody that drank,” she noted. She confessed she used to laugh that she “nagged” him about drinking but said, ” I just didn’t understand it, and I didn’t want to understand it.”

Tammy Wynette once said she didn’t have an act or personality, ‘not until after’ divorce from George Jones

While she was talking to King, he asked Wynette how her divorce from Jones impacted her act. “I didn’t have an act, not until after George Jones and I divorced,” she replied. “I didn’t even have a personality. I went on stage with George, we did our shows together …”

She explained that Jones would say, “You sing so and so, and I’ll sing so and so; you sing this and I’ll sing that.”

“And we did,” she added. “And after we divorced, three months later, I did my first show alone. And I was petrified.”

Wynette said she felt, “I can’t do it, I can’t work by myself. I’ve never done this before except in the very beginning.”

“I was a total wreck,” she noted, but said she “finally got a personality” after that. “I learned to talk to the people, and to relate to the people, and get feedback from the people. And only then did I consider myself an act.”

Tammy Wynette explained her own addiction began with legal drugs

Wynette explained to King that, like Jones, she’d experienced addiction herself. “I had four major operations in one year,” she said. “And I would go back to work two weeks after.”

She added, “… That’s just killing yourself, that’s stupidity. But I didn’t think of it as being that way at the time. I thought I have to back on the road, I have to go back to work. So I took a pain pill.”

Wynette confessed she started on a slippery slope that began with trying to manage her pain. “When I was hurting so bad, I would take one [pill], and the pain would stop. And an hour later, I’d think, gosh, I don’t have that pain now,” she said. “If I take another pill, it will go away it [and] won’t come back.”

Eventually, she said, “I would take one when I wasn’t hurting.”

The “Stand by Your Man” singer said addiction “just plays mind games with you” and “gets to be a terrible, terrible cycle.”

Sadly, Wynette was only 55 when she died in 1998. Her death was first reported as a blood clot in her lung, but a late autopsy revealed a heart problem. Her daughters sued her doctor, citing her addiction as a contributing factor, and they privately settled for wrongful death.

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.