"I went back to my hotel and tried to take my life," says the masked country singer, who chronicles a really bad year on Mule
Orville Peck thinks often about what would have happened if he died that night in 2023 of a self-inflicted overdose, heartbroken and hopeless at his New York City hotel. It was the evening before he was supposed to play to a sold-out crowd at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, kicking off his Bronco run with one of his biggest concerts yet. His team found him the next morning and issued an ultimatum: get clean, or he’d be on his own.
But the show had to go on. Peck put on his fringe, leather, and mask, and powered through a dynamic 19-song set as if nothing in the world was awry. Then he canceled his tour, packed his bags, and checked into rehab.
“I was in one of the worst places in my life, for sure,” Peck says, seated in the stars and stripes-themed dressing room backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, where he’ll be making his Opry debut in a few hours. He’s in a pair of ripped jeans and a ringer tee, his signature mask now just a wisp of tan leather, the rest of his face in view. “I was a bad addict, a coping alcoholic. And I had this spiral moment, where I went back to my hotel and tried to take my life. It was a big turning point for me, with a lot of realizations to come. It was something that needed to happen.”
