“TRACE ADKINS REVEALED THE HARROWING MOMENT HIS EX-WIFE SHOT HIM.” 💔😳 — AND WHY HE NEVER PRESSED CHARGES STILL STUNS FANS Country star Trace Adkins has opened up about the terrifying 1994 domestic dispute that nearly claimed his life after he was shot at point-blank range by his then-wife. The singer underwent emergency surgery to survive, but decades later, he says there’s one reason he chose forgiveness instead of revenge.

Country star Trace Adkins is opening up about the time he was shot by his ex-wife during a domestic dispute more than 30 years ago.

The “You’re Gonna Miss This” singer, 64, suffered near-fatal injuries to his heart and his lungs after his then-wife Julie Curtis shot him as he tried to disarm her during an argument over his drinking in 1994.

During an appearance on the This Past Weekend with Theo Von podcast on Tuesday, July 28, Adkins quipped that Curtis “took it a little far, I thought.”

“That was uncalled for. That was totally uncalled for,” he said of the shooting. “Just leave. Let’s just call it quits and we don’t have to go that far.”

Adkins — who did not press charges — said that he did not think Curtis meant to shoot him, noting that he believed she didn’t have “any idea what that gun was gonna do.”

“I’d never seen her hold a gun, I’d never seen her shoot a gun. I knew she had one, but I’d never seen her use it,” he said. “I don’t think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger. She thought it was a toy.”

Because of that, Adkins said he’s come to forgive her, noting, “She thought I was indestructible.”

The singer explained that in the lead-up to the shooting, Curtis was “mad” and wanted him to leave, which he refused to do. As they argued, she put the gun under his left arm — and when she fired, the bullet went straight through and came out under his right arm, having gone “straight through” his heart and lungs.

Adkins was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and underwent emergency open-heart surgery.

“It was a kill shot. And the doctor said the only reason I survived was because the bullet went through at point blank velocity, at muzzle velocity, so it didn’t have time to mushroom,” he explained. “If it hadn’t been for that Life Flight and Vanderbilt Medical Center, I wouldn’t be here.”

Adkins and Curtis divorced later that year, and the singer released his debut album Dreamin’ Out Loud in 1996.

The singer — who shares five daughters with two other ex-wives — married actress Victoria Pratt in a 2019 ceremony officiated by Blake Shelton.

He still sees a heart doctor for regular checkups, and opened up about the incident to PEOPLE in 2022.

“It wasn’t my time to go,” he said. “It was painful, but it didn’t sear my memory. The physical pain — broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut — has never really bothered me. I have a high tolerance for it. It’s the broken hearts that left the deepest scars.”

SOURCE: PEOPLE