Country singer Ruston Kelly announced that he is now three days sober after recently suffering a relapse.
“I told myself back in 2021 that as long as I wasn’t using amphetamines that I would be on the right ‘clean’ journey for myself,” Kelly, 37, wrote in a poignant Instagram post about his relapse on Wednesday, July 29. “I had never been addicted to any drug other than those pills. I lumped in alcohol and THC etc initially because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do.”
He went on, “Somewhere along the way I became obstinate in my journey, that I wasn’t an ‘addict’ in the traditional sense of the word, that I was only addicted to amphetamines. ‘I’ve never had a problem with alcohol, I’ve never had a problem with XYZ’ ‘See I can be like everyone else, I can show self control, I am in control.’ I even got to the point of recent spiritual surrender and still attempted to live a lifestyle that was satisfactory to my carnal impulses because I ‘never had a problem with them.’”
Kelly — who was married to country superstar Kacey Musgraves from 2017 to 2020 — revealed that he experienced a crisis in his sobriety after a golf cart accident in June.
The “Mockingbird” singer was riding in a residential golf cart when it collided with an overgrown root, sending his cart flipping into the air. Kelly smashed his head into a mailbox and practically broke his arm “in half.”
“I was given fentanyl morphine ketamine dilaudid and oxycodone for 3 days leaving with a month long Rx of Percocet. I needed it for the level 15 pain but very quickly they started running out sooner and sooner,” he acknowledged. “I was chewing them in the pharmacy before I walked out the door. I was hiding how many at a time I was taking. I was complaining to the dr it wasn’t enough. It awakened something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.”
The musician ultimately decided on Sunday, July 26, that he was going to give up all substances and alcohol as a recommitment to his sobriety.
“I decided to end any chance of ruining anything good. For my soul my wife my family my art and career and my people,” he wrote. “I admitted that whether I like it or not I will forever have a substance abuse disease. ALL drugs/substances including alcohol and THC are off the table for good (working on nicotine) That if there is something that will scratch an itch I didn’t think I had, I will use it beyond excess and into addiction. I am 3 days completely clean and sober again, and intend to remain this way forever, one day at a time.”
Kelly’s confessional post received more than 7,000 likes, as of publication, with many of his friends and fellow musicians pledging their support for his sobriety journey.
“Your transparency and honesty is gonna help a lot of people 💙 It always has. Love u buddy,” singer Katie Pruitt replied in the comments section to Kelly’s post.
“Proud of you. Praying for you. Love you so much,” musician Natalie Hemby added. “Philippians 4:13 is such a powerful surrender. ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’”
Kelly has spoken openly about both his struggles and sobriety in the past, including telling Esquire in 2020 that he’d battled with addiction for most of his adult life. (Prior to his recent relapse, Kelly celebrated five years of sobriety in December 2025.)
“I’ve always had an issue with self-control in my life. I’ve been emotionally reckless at times and I’ve definitely abused myself with copious amounts of drugs and illicit materials and doing crazy things, and being wild without purpose and that is dangerous,” he explained at the time.“It could be creatively fueling, but I think what’s really helped ground me is learning the difference between creative spontaneity and emotional recklessness in everyday life. And that line had always been blurred for me and [coronavirus] quarantine was a way for me to sit back, take inventory mentally, spiritually, physically.”
Following his 2020 divorce from Musgraves, 35, Kelly tied the knot with second wife Tia Cubelic in May after proposing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in September 2025.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
