Country star Gretchen Wilson wins 'Masked Singer' after 'severe' COVID symptoms kept her from spotlight

Fox News

08-05-2025

Country music icon of the '90s Gretchen Wilson won big on Fox's "The Masked Singer" after health concerns and her personality kept her out of the public eye, according to the star.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, Wilson shared the reason why she has been on a hiatus from Hollywood.
"So, I got COVID. I was one of the very first to get it, and it was a heck of a round. It left me with high blood pressure, shortness of breath, asthma – all of which I still have – and it took about two years for me to find the right doctors, cardiologists to get it all sorted, to find the right medicine to get my blood pressure down. I mean, it was pretty severe. It was bad enough that I couldn't even do light housework without the blood pressure going up to scary levels," Wilson exclusively told Fox News Digital.
COVID was not Wilson's only health battle in recent years.
"I also shattered my leg, and I was in a wheelchair for eight months. So there was a lot that I had to work through."
"So I just stayed away, figured it out. Like I said, it took a long time, but I finally got myself into a place where I was like, 'Okay, I feel like I'm back.'"
The "Redneck Woman" singer also shared that it is not her personality to share her highs and lows on social media.
"I don't get on my phone and go, 'Oh, woe is me and look at me and I am so sad, boohoo.' It's just not my personality. So I just stayed away, figured it out. Like I said, it took a long time, but I finally got myself into a place where I was like, 'Okay, I feel like I'm back,'" Wilson said.
WATCH: GRETCHEN WILSON WINS 'MASKED SINGER' AFTER CONTINUOUS BATTLE WITH 'SEVERE' COVID SYMPTOMS
When Wilson got the call to compete on "The Masked Singer," she decided to use it as an opportunity to see if her talents were still there.
"When they called and asked – to me, it was like the best, I don't know of a better opportunity for me to go and try to just see 'What do I have? Do I have it or is it over, you know?' And it was hard work, but it was so rewarding.
"I gotta say that I don't think I have this kind of pride or this much just, you know, want to if I hadn't done the show. The show really proved to me that I can still do it, that I need to still be doing it and that I want to still be doing it," she said, referring to singing and performing.
Wilson had her "tools" with her while competing on the singing competition show that helped ease her health issues.
"I take two different inhalers every day and I take a pretty massive beta blocker. So, I've got my tools. No, I don't think that I felt any different during the show than I do with my typical touring gigs. It's probably a little bit harder to do the 75- to 90-minute nonstop, middle of July, Yuma, Arizona show. That's probably a little bit harder than any given one day on the show. I will say that it's enough work that I felt like I got dehydrated a couple of times. It was a lot of work just keeping hydrated," Wilson said.
Now that Wilson is getting back into the spotlight, she has been working with "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban.
She told Fox News Digital that she had talked to Sheridan about appearing in one of his many shows.
"I don't know, we talked a little bit, we were working, so obviously we didn't sit around and just shoot the cr-p. I would like to, pick his brain, who wouldn't, but we were pretty focused on the project at hand. I have no idea, I think that's gonna be up to Taylor. He's got so many different irons in the fire. He's [got] what, five, 10 different shows going all the time," Wilson said.
Wilson felt "very comfortable" working with Shelton and Urban – who are polar opposites, according to the singer.
WATCH: GRETCHEN WILSON TALKS WORKING WITH BLAKE SHELTON AND KEITH URBAN
"Blake's just always having a good time. He's Mr. Funny. I think that if things hadn't worked out so well for him in this industry, he could have very easily been a comedian.
"And Keith is just a lot more serious, but man, what a guy. I mean every time I'm around him, I'm just like, man, when I grew up, I wanted to be Keith Urban. He's brilliant. He's so talented. He played every night. He played every on this other show that I did and just aces every night, perfect voice, so healthy. Takes care of himself. Yeah, I want to be like that. You know, I told him, I said, 'You make me want to be a better me, Keith, you really do.' And then I looked at Blake and said, 'Yeah, not so much you," Wilson said while laughing.
Florida Georgia Line's former singer, Brian Kelley, also competed on "The Masked Singer."
WATCH: BRIAN KELLEY DISHES ON HIS 'MASKED SINGER' EXPERIENCE
"[I] had an absolute blast, man. It was a good time. It was wild. It was challenging. It was just fun, man, it was such a different experience than anything I've ever done. And I'm really glad I did it. Like it was, it was freeing. Creatively, I kind of felt like I recalibrated my whole system and my whole mindset," Kelley told Fox News Digital.
"Going into it, I knew it was gonna be fun and wacky and wild and just like a good time and theatrical and just wild production and stuff. But I didn't know that I was gonna leave with just a different headspace, man. I just felt like I was able to double down on just being myself and going forward not worrying about anything, man, and it was so good for me. It was just like. In that mask, in that suit, and just like, 'Hey, let it rip, have fun.' Singing all sorts of songs, different genres, and just singing like here's my take on how I would do that song or how I'd do this song and just be myself," Kelley said.