Ingrid Andress broke her silence on her viral national anthem performance, revealing that she was under the influence on Monday, July 15, while singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and is now checking herself into rehab.
“I’m not gonna bulls–t y’all, I was drunk last night,” Andress, 32, shared in a statement posted via X on Tuesday, July 16. “I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need.”
She continued: “That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition. I’ll let y’all know how rehab is[.] I hear it’s super fun.”
Andress made headlines on Monday after singing the national anthem at the MLB Home Run Derby at Arlington’s Globe Life Field in Texas, where the All-Star Game is being held this year. While Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández won the annual event, baseball fans couldn’t stop talking about Andress online.
— Ingrid Andress (@IngridAndress) July 16, 2024
A video of Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm also circulated online during Andress’ performance as it seemed he was attempting to hold back laughter. Other MLB stars, like New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto, kept a straight face but also seemed to be confused.
The MLB Home Run Derby was a lot of people’s introduction to Andress, but the singer has been on the country music scene for a few years. She released her debut album, Lady Like, in March 2020 and received three Grammy nominations the following year. She was up for Best New Artist, Best Country Song for “More Hearts Than Mine” and Best Country Album for Lady Like, but did not leave the awards show a winner.
In 2023, Andress was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Wishful Drinking,” a collaboration with Sam Hunt from her second album, Good Person, but also lost. It seems she has taken the losses in stride, however, as Andress refers to herself as a “4-time Grammy losing singer songwriter” in her Instagram bio.
After finding success in the music world, Andress is looking forward to the future of her music, she told Variety in a 2022 interview.
“Eventually, I would love to write about something other than relationships. And I think I’m at a point where I will for the next album. But this one was such a huge… like, so much life changed for me in the past two years, which I feel like it happened to a lot of people,” she explained. “I know a lot of people that split up during the pandemic because once you spend countless hours with somebody without any intermission, you really start wondering like, oh, do I actually really love this person?”
Andress added: “That kind of set me on my journey of like, well, am I happy? What am I doing with my life? And then I realized that I wasn’t happy, and had to process that. Now I’m at a place where I actually am happy — and that’s very new for me, because I feel like most of us assume that life is hard and miserable. Which it is, but there are moments where it’s actually really beautiful, and I feel like we don’t care enough about that.”
