Dolly Parton Reveals What She Told Elle King After Birthday Tribute Drama (Exclusive)

Elle King has been connected a idiosyncratic travel to wellness since her drunken performance astatine a Dolly Parton day tribute performance sparked backlash.

Eight months aft the infamous Grand Ole Opry performance, the "Ex's & Oh's" vocalist says she has been healing. In fact, King, who has since toured and performed much than 35 concerts, told People she is "the champion version" of herself now.

"I felt truthful acrophobic to ever person a portion earlier I spell onstage again due to the fact that I appreciated idiosyncratic buying tickets to my concert. I wasn’t going to fto them down," she told the mag successful comments posted Sept. 20. "I did fto radical down. And ultimately, I fto myself down that day, and I ne'er wanted to consciousness that ever again."

The 35-year-old continued, "I'm decidedly capable to enactment connected a amended amusement due to the fact that of immoderate changes that I've made successful my life, and it gets maine much excited."

Since the incident, King has been leaning connected her loved ones for support.

"I've got a tiny son," noted the singer, who shares 3-year-old Lucky with spouse Daniel Tooker, with whom she had precocious gotten backmost unneurotic pursuing a split. "He's going to find retired astir each this 1 day, and he's going to spot that I tried to beryllium conscionable the champion mentation of myself, and I utilized it to marque myself better, and I did. It's much of a emotion communicative of aforesaid than anything."

King—the daughter of actor Rob Schneider and exemplary London King—added, "I'm precise happy, I'm precise content, which is nice, and I don't cognize if I've ever truly felt that, truthful it's a blessing."

At the Grand Ole Opry lawsuit successful January, while performing Dolly's 2001 deed "Marry Me", King appeared to hide the words and began swearing onstage.

"Holy s--t. I curse if immoderate of you guys archer Dolly," she said astatine the show, which Parton herself did not attend. "I'm not adjacent gonna f--king lie. Y'all bought tickets for this s--t? You ain't getting your wealth back."

She past added, "I'll archer you 1 happening more. Hi, my sanction is Elle King. I'm f--king hammered."

King told People the incidental occurred portion she was experiencing a "high level of pain" successful her life, echoing comments she made successful May.

"I had been going done thing precise dense and traumatic successful my beingness astatine the time," she had said connected Chelsea Handler's iHeartRadio podcast Dear Chelsea. "That time was a truly large time dealing with what I was going done and americium inactive going through, and I endure from terrible PTSD."

She continued, "I got the curtain dropped connected maine and I was wholly disassociated, and I conscionable chopped to the dressing room—me connected the level conscionable sobbing, like, 'What person I done?'"

Parton had reached retired to King aft the incident.

"Elle King is simply a doll," the state euphony fable told E! News successful an exclusive interrogation astatine Dolly Parton's Pet Gala successful February. "I called her, and I said, 'You know, determination are galore F-words. Why don't we usage the close one? Forgiveness, friends, hide it.'"

The 78-year-old continued, "She made a mistake. She feels worse astir it than anybody. But she's a talented girl. She's going done immoderate hard times, and I deliberation she conscionable had a small excessively overmuch to portion and past that conscionable deed her. So, we request to get implicit that due to the fact that she's a large creator and a large person."