Popular ’90s country star talks about decision to come out as gay, quit the music industry
A popular country singer who rose to stardom in the late ’90s and rocked the music industry when she came out as gay is sharing details of what her life looks like now.
Chely Wright, who first became popular with hits like “Single White Female” and “Shut Up and Drive,” became the first gay country artist to come out publicly in 2010, according to People. Wright said she made the decision to do so after contemplating suicide.
Coming out publicly as gay wasn’t the only life-changing decision Wright has made, though. The 54-year-old has also decided to leave the music industry behind, and now serves as a senior executive at ISS, a facility management company that has 320,000 employees around the world, according to Variety.
Ultimately, Wright said that when she decided to come out, she “didn’t want to feel like I was having anything taken from me. It was my choice if I want to shapeshift and change my career path or write a new chapter.”
And while a complete career change is a daunting task, Wright said that, before she came out, she was always preparing for the prospect that she might lose her place in the music industry if it was discovered that she was a “closeted gay person.”
“With my early understanding that my career could be taken from me in a moment’s notice, that’s why I started buying rental houses in Nashville in the late ‘90s; that, for a long time, was my side hustle. I still have those houses and I still manage them myself,” Wright told Variety. “I can’t tell you how many times I was painting a rental house, ran home, got a shower, and went out and did the Grand Ole Opry. I loved it, but I also think I was doing it out of survival, and ‘I have to make sure I’m OK in case the career is taken.’”
Wright went on to marry Lauren Blitzer in 2011, and the couple had twins George and Everett in 2013.
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