Country singer Trace Adkins has spoken publicly about the 1994 shooting by his second wife, Julie Curtis, describing the incident in detail on Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast and saying he forgave her long ago.

The podcast episode was posted on Tuesday, 28 July. Adkins told Von that during an argument in 1994, Curtis fired at him at point-blank range. He described it as "a kill shot" — the bullet entered under his left arm and exited through his right, passing straight through his body (Billboard; OregonLive).

Doctors told Adkins he survived because of a grim paradox of ballistics: Curtis was so close when she fired that the bullet lacked enough velocity to mushroom — that is, to expand on impact, the deformation that increases internal damage. Even so, the wound was life-threatening. Adkins underwent emergency trauma surgery immediately after the shooting. Six months later, he had open heart surgery to repair the septum of his heart, the wall dividing the organ's upper chambers (Billboard).

Adkins chose not to press charges against Curtis. He told Von he felt she had not meant to shoot him and that he had thought himself indestructible at the time. The couple had married in 1991 and divorced in 1994 (Billboard).

Adkins, now 64, has been married four times. His first marriage was to Barbara Lewis, with whom he shares two daughters, Tarah and Sarah. Curtis was his second wife. His third, Rhonda Forlaw, whom he married in 1997, is the mother of three daughters — Mackenzie, Brianna and Trinity. That marriage ended in 2014. In 2019, Adkins married Canadian actress Victoria Pratt (Billboard).

USA Today published its own coverage of Adkins's podcast comments on 29 July 2026 (USA Today).

Adkins's career, for readers less familiar with country music, stretches back to his 1996 debut album Dreamin' Out Loud and includes multiple platinum certifications and a long association with the Grand Ole Opry. The shooting occurred before his recording career began, while he was still working in the oilfields of Louisiana — a period he has referenced in interviews as formative but volatile.

What stands out in the podcast conversation is the absence of bitterness. Adkins did not frame the story as one of survival against the odds or of a grudge held. He spoke about it with the directness of someone recounting something that happened a long time ago, to a different version of himself, and that he has carried without letting it define him.