Kenny Chesney has revealed in a new interview that the annulment of his marriage to Renee Zellweger was followed by a year of depression.
Speaking to Peter Cooper of the Tennessean newspaper, the superstar says despite its cheerful title, his new album, "Lucky Old Sun", is filled with songs with their roots in the failure of his brief marriage. "This is not a party record. A lot of it is about my breakup. I'm finally at a place in my life where I cn actually go into that."
Kenny wrote five of the songs on the album, but says the other material reflects the feelings he was grappling with in his personal life.
Kenny says the distress and embarrassment he felt following the annulment were so great that he became "hollow" and "passionless". He says he didn't want to go on stage and perform, even though his tour was attracting gigantic audiences to massive stadium shows. He took a year off, spending part of it at rock producer Rick Rubin's home. listening to records and helping produce an album for Willie Nelson.
Cooper never directly confronts Kenny with the issue that caused most of the gossip surrounding the break-up: since the marriage was annulled, it appears legally that it wasn't consummated. This stoked already rampant speculation about the singer's sexuality. Was there a connection there and, if so, how could a sophisticated actress in this day and age agree to marry someone whom she didn't know was sexually unable to fulfill her needs?
Is Kenny withholding information about his personal life due to fears it would alienate a portion of his fan base and diminish his career in Country music? If the rumours about Kenny were revealed to be true, is it probable that most fans would accept it and consider it irrelevant to his stature as an artist, as happened with pop star George Michael?
The questions remain to be answered another day.
George Strait - Twang
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