Kellie Pickler Performs for the First Time Since Her Husband's Death

Transcript

00:00My husband and I actually wrote this song together, gosh, over a decade ago.

00:07The last time I was here in the Ryman Auditorium was with him on a date night,

00:14and I'm happy he's here with us tonight.

00:18Kelly Pickler performing for the first time since her husband, Kyle Jacobs, died in 2023.

00:27That's the singer taking the stage at the Ryman Auditorium and shaking off some nerves.

00:32I think it's fine if I didn't say I was not incredibly nervous right now.

00:37It's been the first time I've been up on stage in a while.

00:43Kelly explaining why the venue held a special significance for the couple.

00:47The last time I was here in the Ryman Auditorium was with him on a date night,

00:54and I'm happy he's here with us tonight.

00:58The country star performing the song she collaborated with Kyle on in 2013, The Woman I Am.

01:04My husband and I actually wrote this song together, gosh, over a decade ago.

01:10The last time I was here in the Ryman Auditorium was with him on a date night.

01:18Kyle was found dead in the couple's home in February 2023.

01:22Police told E.T. at the time they discovered him dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

01:28His death was investigated as an apparent suicide.

01:31Kelly and Kyle met at a Nashville bar in the mid-2000s,

01:35Kelly later opening up about their meet-cute on The Real.

01:38I was out with a friend of ours, and I look across the room and I see this guy, Kyle.

01:43I didn't know who he was or what he did.

01:45We just locked eyes, and I went, I gotta know everything about this person.

01:50We got lost in conversation, and everybody else just kind of disappeared.

01:54The whole bar disappeared.

01:56We started writing songs the next day, and then we got hitched.

02:02And in 2011, the couple eloped,

02:04the country singer explaining why they wanted a private ceremony on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

02:09We had this whole big wedding planned in Nashville,

02:12and the only thing we had failed to do was send invitations out.

02:18I had this list, and I'm going, hell, I don't even like half of these people,

02:22and I don't even know the rest.

02:24I said, baby, let's just run away.

02:26Yeah, and he goes, oh, thought you'd never ask.

02:29He's a good man. He's a keeper. I think I'll keep him.

02:32Kelly and Kyle sitting down with E.T. in 2017,

02:35sharing the secret sauce behind their love story.

02:38I love so much about my beautiful wife.

02:40I mean, not only is she beautiful and just incredible, but she's a conqueror,

02:43and she is just one of the smartest people I've ever met, ever.

02:48Keep going?

02:50Well, I'll stop now.

02:53No, I'm just so thankful to have her in my life. I really, truly am.

02:56Love and laughter, I mean, that's two main ingredients in life.

03:00That's what we strive for in our life, is to laugh as much as possible.