Ashley McBryde tearfully recalls the moment that led her to rehab. In 2023, McBryde announced that she had quietly decided to get sober in 2022, waiting over a year to share the news. Now, the Arkansas native is opening up about the painful moment when she realized she needed to stop drinking.
“I woke up at another artist’s house, another female artist, in a bed that’s not mine, in pajamas that aren’t mine,” McBryde recounts on Bobbycast. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that must have been a doozy.’ I’m thirsty. I don’t know where I am, and I don’t know where water is, so I’ll just go find water.”
Unbeknownst to McBryde, she was about to walk into her very own intervention, a decision that likely saved her life.
“When I went to find water, I found a living room,” McBryde remembers. “In that living room was my team. And they said, ‘We need you to stop.’ And I said, ‘I need me to stop, too.’ And that was when I found out that she took me to her house that night, after we’d been out, to make sure I didn’t die.”
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What Ashley McBryde Says About Getting Sober
McBryde later recalled the pivotal moment that made her realize that her drinking was out of control.
“Today marks three years. Since my last drink,” McBryde shared on social media on June 11, 2025. “My last time being ‘that guy’ in my social and professional circles. The last panicked phone call for help. The final slip up that caused the intervention from those that love me and the shift in me allowing me to say ‘that’s enough.’ The details are known by those who are deserving of such painful information. Gratitude is the guiding light today. Grief is okay. A version of me had to die off so I could become myself. I have love for her and every other version of me that had to exist so I could stand by this waterfall today.
“Thank you for the ability to stand here,” she continues. “Celebrating by connecting to Mother Earth was just the kind of party I needed. If you’re struggling, reach out. You aren’t alone and don’t have to be. You’re gonna be delighted at how many of us there are. I love you, keep going.”
Ashley McBryde’s New Musical Chapter
McBryde just released “What If We Don’t.” The powerful song is from her next record.
“‘What If We Don’t’ came to me, Terri Jo Box, and Randall Clay sitting around a fire pit on a back porch, reminiscing on all the moments that we could’ve made a different choice and wondering if we should’ve,” McBryde shares. “It’s about the leaps of faith that you do or don’t take, and having to learn to live with those consequences either way.”
Of “What If We Dont,” McBryde says, ““We can’t avoid feeling afraid. But we can make sure fear doesn’t get to make choices for us.”
Photo Credit: CMA / Josh Brasted