After Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton split in July 2015, Lambert was noticeably absent from the public eye — even during the release of her new album, The Weight of These Wings in November 2016. Now, she’s revealing why.
In an interview with HITS Daily Double, the country superstar revealed that she actually refused to do press for the album because she didn’t want to answer questions about Blake’s new relationship with his The Voice co-star, Gwen Stefani.
“I came into [manager] Marion [Kraft’s] office and said, ‘I’m not speaking to anyone until they hear this record,'” Lambert said. “It was going to be hell, and I’d already been through hell.”
She continued, “It was hell putting it on paper, putting my words on paper. So I didn’t want to rehash. I’d finally gotten to a place where I wasn’t sad anymore … It would’ve set up some expectation that couldn’t be met. I was very publicly going through this thing, and there wasn’t an explanation to be given.”
When Lambert finally agreed to do an interview, she was — of course — asked about Blake and Gwen.
“I got on the phone for the first interview. First question was, ‘How do you feel about Gwen?’ I hung up,” she said. “I told Marion, ‘I just can’t do this.’ What was in the music was real, and I wanted people to get it from that. Take from it what they would. Then if I needed to talk, I would. But I haven’t really until now.”
And now that she’s ready, Lambert’s also keeping things real.
“I am who I am. I am honest about being flawed. That’s all I can be, you know? I cuss. I drink. I get divorced and get my heart broken. I break hearts. I can’t do or be that anymore, or it’ll drive me crazy. I won’t be good anymore,” she said. “I felt, maybe, a different kind of fear than any other record. It was really my life’s work and my life’s story. But there was also relief, I was thankful to let the music do what the music does — and to allow myself that.”