Country Stars Rally Around Jake Owen After Vulnerable Moment Sparks Concern

Jake Owen has spoken out in a raw, unscripted way after a recent video surfaced of him breaking down over the realities of life in the music business. Since then, many of his fellow artists have rallied in support, offering encouragement and check-ins, and Owen is expressing how grateful he is to have such a strong, caring community around him.

The newest video posted across his social media platforms finds the country act admitting he’s in a “better frame of mind” than he was when he posted the initial tear-filled clip just a few days prior. He begins by noting that he now realizes that he was “overly emotional” at the time and by allowing himself to break down in front of the world, he ended up worrying fans as well as many people in his close circle.

“My world consists of my little girls. I’m a father, I’m a son, I’m a brother and I’m a friend to so many people. And I felt like I worried, I scared a lot of people and I really, I’m regretful for that because I didn’t want to worry anybody. I am okay. I’m fine,” he said, assuring his followers that it was just the kind of low moment that everyone experiences now and then.

He goes on to explain that the initial video was filmed in his car at 10 o’clock in the morning after he had just left his business manager’s office. Despite the accusations he saw circulating online, Owen shut down the rumors, stating, “I was completely sober.”

“I saw people saying like, wow, man, he’s messed up. He needs help. He’s on drugs, he’s intoxicated…I have been sober for four years. I’ll never forget that night, September 17th, 2021, the morning, I woke up and I felt like, oh my God, I don’t ever want to feel like that. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I don’t ever want to do that again. And I quit drinking and I’ve never felt that way again.”

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Up until that morning, he says he had been waking up feeling like the best version of himself. Suddenly, he realized he was reliving some of the emotions he felt before he got sober and had the pain of thinking he had let people down. This taught him the lesson that no matter how resilient and put together someone may seem on the outside, everyone has their struggles.

“I just broke down, 44-year-old guy that showed his emotion. And I’m supposed to be strong. I’m supposed to be a dad that’s the strong one. I’m supposed to be a band leader and I’m supposed to be the guy that has everything figured out. And I wanted to tell you all that no matter who you are out there watching this, I for sure don’t have it figured out. And I’m working on that,” the singer acknowledged.

Something positive that came out of this vulnerable moment was the immense amount of people who made an effort to reach out to Owen, blowing up his phone with concerned messages. There was especially an outpouring of uplifting comments from his fellow country stars.

Lady A’s Charles Kelley, who has more recently embarked on his own sobriety journey, assured Owen, “We all have those moments when life gets so overwhelming we break down. It’s actually refreshing to see we’re not alone in these feelings and questions. No need to apologize but I do know we’ve all been praying and thinking about you. Golf and chat soon. That’s the best therapy sometimes. 🙏”

Luke Bryan, Chase Rice, and Brian Kelley added a simple, “Love you.”

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild said, “We love you Jake. We’re all broken and we got you.”

Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney also had his back writing, “Only thing you’re on is life, brother!! So proud of you – you are such an inspiration to us all!!🙏🏻💫”

For these messages as well as all the ones he received from fans and those in private, the “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” singer says he is so thankful and once again confirmed that he is in fact doing okay.

“It feels incredible and I didn’t mean for it to be that, but I do want you to know how much I appreciate you calling and texting me. And I’m sorry if I haven’t got back to you yet. This is part of it, but I’m going to get back to a lot of you guys…I realize I still have healing to do. I still have things I need to fix. I’m not fixed yet,” he admitted. “And I’m grateful for those people out there that have reached out to me to tell me that you’d be there for me. So I love you for that. I’m grateful for that. And I guess I’ve been long-winded, but I just want to let you guys know I’m okay.”

Jake Owen concluded his message by explaining that he is going to continue to work on himself and despite making comments in his previous video about not wanting to continue in the music business, he cleared the air stating, “This has nothing to do with country music.”

“I said yesterday, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ I said, ‘the music business sucks.’ The music business does not suck. All these people I’m talking about that are friends I’ve made because of the music business, all the people that called me are in the music business. I think I was just in an emotional place where I feel like my dreams that I followed, I fulfilled, but yet a lot of it’s also deteriorated my family life. And a lot of that is due to my own decisions and choices that I have to be accountable for.”

Before signing off, he once again apologized, shared his appreciation for all the love he’s received this week and offered a reminder to focus on the simple things that matter most.

“So love you. I’m sorry if I scared you. Thank you for your messages. I love you, mom. Love you, Dad. My 103-year-old granddad called me the other day and I asked him what he does every day. Said he woke up and his first thing he does is get in his gratitude journal and he thinks about how grateful he is. And I think we all need to do that. So, love you.”

By Jake Owen sharing this kind of message online, he proves that even in the toughest moments, there’s strength in vulnerability.