09-05-2025
Gretchen Wilson reveals why she 'felt bad' about winning The Masked Singer
Fox's The Masked Singer brought its 13th season to a close in epic fashion on Wednesday with a two-hour finale that revealed Gretchen Wilson as the winner.
The 51-year-old singer shot into the stratosphere with her first single Redneck Woman in 2004, with her debut album certified 5x platinum.
More than two decades later, Wilson stunned fans week after week under the Pearl costume on The Masked Singer, ultimately taking home The Golden Mask trophy over Boogie Woogie, who was revealed as singer Andy Grammer.
After her big win, Wilson, whose last album was 2017's Ready To Get Rowdy, revealed that she was quite surprised to win in a new interview with People.
She revealed that in the weeks leading up to the finale, she was so positive that Boogie Woogie would win that she actually 'felt bad' for winning.
The singer and mother to 24-year-old Gracie revealed, 'I was absolutely positive that Boogie won. I thought he was just the most amazing singer.'
'In my head, he had won it weeks before. I was so stunned because I had myself ready to hear that I was second place. I was so ready for it, I had already decided that that's what it should be in my head,' Wilson admitted.
There were four singers left heading into the finale - Pearl, Boogie Woogie, Coral (Meg Donnelly) and Mad Scientist Monster (Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley).
After she was announced as the winner, Wilson admitted, 'But being a mom, I felt bad. It was like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm happy with second! He won!"' she said.
Wilson added, 'I think that's probably how he would've felt, too. He's just such an incredibly, incredibly likable person. I wished I could have shared it with him.'
She admitted after being unmasked, 'I've had a rough couple of years. I was injured. I was in a wheelchair. And there was a moment where I didn't think I'd ever get back to this place. And I worked really hard, I prayed really hard, and I got so far. But this opportunity has really proven to me that there's nothing I can't do.'
The singer also added in the new interview that, despite 'feeling bad' about the win, she still views it as, 'a career comeback.'
'I feel like it's sort of a comeback moment. I'm ready to take on anything,' Wilson said, adding she wanted to do the show to prove that she's more than a 'redneck woman.'
'I've had to spend a lot of time being that rough and tumble, girl next door, no dresses, no makeup, just be kind of plain Jane kind of girl. So, when I saw that costume, I was like, this is an opportunity for me to be a girly girl,' she admitted.
She admitted after being unmasked, 'I've had a rough couple of years. I was injured. I was in a wheelchair. And there was a moment where I didn't think I'd ever get back to this place. And I worked really hard, I prayed really hard, and I got so far. But this opportunity has really proven to me that there's nothing I can't do'
'This is an opportunity for me to be a side of me that I don't often get to show because it's not what people are expecting from me,' Wilson admitted.
When asked if winning the show helped show another side to her, Wilson said, 'I feel like that there are a lot of people out there who had me summed up as this one thing, that are now going to be able to go, 'Oh, wow, she's multidimensional.''
'There was a big part of me that was just like, I want people to see that I'm not just that one thing that they have decided that I am. That was important to me,' she said.
When asked if dressing up as Pearl unleashed more of her 'girly' side, she admitted, 'it did rub off a little bit.'
'I did buy a dress for an award show. I'm not going to wear it, but I bought it. That's a step in the right direction,' she joked.
