Ashley McBryde admits to feeling vulnerable, feeling bad bouts of anxiety ever since her brother Clay’s passing. But in an interview with People, she shares how she copes with her grief.
Ashley McBryde is still Grieving
McBryde is known for her tough cool exterior, and she is not one to break down when life throws a curveball at her.
But the conversation shifts when she lost one of her closest family members. Clay is McBryde’s 53-year-old brother who was an Army veteran and police officer from Russellville, Ark. He passed in June of 2018, and the “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” singer tells People in a recent interview in Chicago that she’s developed “really bad” anxiety since then.
“I developed anxiety really, really, really bad right after Clay died. “I mean, they were bad panic attacks. They are under control now, but I didn’t understand what was going on.”
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, panic attacks are a very common thing for over 40 million men and women who battle some sort of anxiety. And for McBryde, the timing was especially off and she had difficulty to deal with it as it coincided with her entry into the country music spotlight.
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“I had to get through four shows before I was able to find out what was going on with Clay. And at night [the anxiety] would come out in really weird ways. We were in Europe after he died and I got in such a weird place about what we were doing. The schedule was so hectic and I was like, ‘Man, is this what all of this is?’”
McBryde proves to be a strong woman as she also shared how she got through the grieving and anxiety.
“You keep your feet moving or you will completely fall apart. As women, we don’t allow ourselves the falling apart time nearly enough. Luckily my body and my psyche has decided to choose those moments for me now.”
She continues, narrating that she also thought of her fans as a way to get through the grief.
“I said to myself, ‘It’s not about you, so get over yourself,’” she recalls. “If someone is having a s—ty day and they need to be free for an hour, where their bills aren’t late and their husband isn’t mad at them and the dog isn’t sick … as long as I am there on stage, everything is OK for them. Nobody cares if I’m hung-over or if I’m sad or if I’m tired or if I got s—ty news this morning. They care how they feel. And in the end, that’s all I care about.”
