Lucy Hale was supposed to fulfill one of her biggest music dreams on Feb. 21, 2014, by making her debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Instead, she says she woke up in a Nashville hotel room after a blackout and went to rehab.
The Pretty Little Liars star revealed what happened during the Sept. 21 episode of Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast. Hale said her drinking had reached the point where she was consuming dangerous amounts of alcohol and regularly waking up without remembering what had happened, according to Entertainment Weekly.
At the time, the public was told that Hale had been battling flu symptoms and needed to postpone what she had described as a “lifelong dream.” Hale now says she spent that morning calling her manager because she was frightened by her drinking and entered treatment instead of taking the Opry stage.
She eventually made her Grand Ole Opry debut four months later, but the 2014 treatment stay did not mark the end of her struggle with alcohol. Hale has said she went through years of attempts to stop drinking before becoming sober in January 2022.
Hale Called Her Manager After Waking Up From a Blackout
Hale told Shetty that alcohol initially made her feel more relaxed and uninhibited, but her drinking became increasingly dangerous as she entered her 20s. Blackouts became part of the pattern even as Pretty Little Liars was becoming a major success and she was preparing to launch a country-music career.
During the On Purpose conversation, Hale recalled waking up in a Nashville hotel on the morning she was scheduled to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
“I woke up out of a blackout in a hotel room, and later, it was early in the morning, and later that day, I was going to sing at the Grand Ole Opry,” she said. “I went to rehab instead.”
Hale said she called her manager and admitted how frightened she had become.
“I said, ‘I’m really scared. I don’t want to stop drinking, but I know I have to stop drinking,’” she recalled.
Her manager flew to Nashville, and Hale entered treatment while the reason for the missed performance remained private. She also said her drinking contributed to the cancellation of her tour during that period.
The Public Explanation Was That Hale Had the Flu
Contemporary reports offered a very different explanation for the Feb. 21 cancellation. Hale was said to have spent the week battling flu symptoms and was forced to postpone her scheduled debut.
The cancellation came during a major push into country music. Hale had released “You Sound Good to Me” in January and was traveling to promote the single ahead of her debut album, Road Between, which arrived that June.
Her Opry appearance was postponed rather than canceled permanently. Hale returned to Nashville on June 21, 2014, and finally made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry, performing material from Road Between including “Lie a Little Better.”
The milestone came only four months after the treatment stay she had kept private. Hale continued promoting Road Between in 2014, but she did not release another full-length studio album after her country debut.
Hale Says Music Became Difficult to Revisit
Hale told Shetty that her memories of pursuing music became closely tied to what was happening with her drinking at the time.
For years, she said, photographs and recordings from that period could take her back to experiences she found difficult to revisit. She has only more recently become comfortable considering singing again.
Her 2014 trip to rehab was one attempt to address a problem that continued for years. Hale has previously described going through repeated efforts to stop drinking before reaching what she considered her “rock bottom” at 32.
In a 2024 People interview, Hale said she woke up on Jan. 2, 2022, and decided she would do everything she could to get sober.
“I knew if I continued on that path, I would’ve lost everything I cared about,” she said. “It was the scariest choice in my life, but also it’s been the best gift.”
She Has Been Sober Since January 2022
Hale has continued speaking publicly about addiction and recovery since becoming sober, while emphasizing that quitting alcohol was only one part of the work involved.
She told People that sobriety required examining why she had relied on alcohol and learning how to live without using it to escape anxiety, insecurity and other difficult emotions.
“I still have to make the choice every day like, ‘Okay, today I’m staying sober and today I’m choosing me,’” she said. “But that goes deeper than just not drinking.”
Hale marked four years of sobriety in January 2026.