“Yeah, I F***ed That Up” Latest Episode

Sadly, being gay can be dangerous today in the U.S., as haters hide behind religion to rationalize hate mongering. 

This week’s new podcast episode of Interval Presents’ ‘Yeah, I F***ed That Up,’ with country music star, activist, and author Chely Wright just dropped. Listen to a clip from the episode HERE.

In this most recent episode, host Billy Mann is joined by Chely Wright as they discuss failures, acceptance and survival from her early music career to coming out as a gay country music star.

*Please note, this episode includes explicit conversations about suicide. Please take care while listening.

Episode Timestamps:

● 5:50 - Chely chats about growing up in Kansas and finding her way to music.

● 10:58 - Chely discusses the news she heard from Wellsville, KS, the town she grew up in, after she came out publicly.

○ Chely Wright - “Since I came out, which was in 2010, there was still no one in that little town who was acknowledging being gay. I did hear from people in Wellsville. The day I came out, May 5, 2010, on The Today Show, I did hear in maybe 24 or 48 hours after that that kids in that school were going to the counselor’s office and coming out on that day.”

● 19:08 - Chely talks about her siblings and how she didn’t want to disappoint her parents.

● 24:07 - Chely shares her f***-up behind breaking up with her partner at the time before she came out.

○ Chely Wright - “My f***-up was the cruelty and the compartmentalization that I used to separate from my partner, whom I loved. Breakups are hard, right? Try breaking up with someone that you don’t want to break up with. That’s really hard. And someone that you love and that you care about and want to spend the rest of your life with. It was cruel. I didn’t give her full insight.”

● 29:30 - Chely discusses beginning to write her memoir, “Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer,” and telling her whole truth.

● 32:48 - Chely shares what it felt like coming out as a gay country music artist, and her dad’s reaction when she came out to him.

○ Chely Wright - “There’s a reason no one had ever in country music acknowledged being a gay artist until I came out in 2010. There’s a reason. It’s because you can’t do that. That breaks that rule. That breaks that kind of social contract. Country music girl from the Midwest, loves The Opry, supports the troops, person of faith. I was then now at odds reconciling these pieces that the world had said never could go together, right?”

● 44:45 - Chely ends the interview on the importance of being your authentic self.

○ Chely Wright - “To really be your authentic self is an act of courage.”