“I had reached a point where I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same,’” says the country star and “Yellowstone” actress in her new Netflix documentary.

Lainey Wilson had ‘several breakdowns’ as career took off, reveals advice Reba McEntire gave her to keep going

"I had reached a point where I was just like, 'I don't know if I'll ever be the same,'" says the country star and "Yellowstone" actress in her new Netflix documentary.

By Jason Lamphier

Jason Lamphier is a senior editor at who covers news and music. Before joining EW, he was an editor at The New York Observer, Out, and Interview.

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April 18, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

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Lainey Wilson in 2024. Credit:

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

- Lainey Wilson opens up about her struggles with depression and anxiety in her new Netflix documentary, *Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool.*

- The country star says she had "several meltdowns" and a days-long panic attack as her career took off, but she pushed herself to perform through it.

- The singer eventually turned to her idol, country legend Reba McEntire, for advice.

Lainey Wilson is opening up about the exhilaration highs — and crushing lows — of sudden stardom.

In her new Netflix documentary, *Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool,* the 33-year-old Louisiana-born country singer details her battle with depression and anxiety as her career took off, including how she pushed herself to the brink despite feeling like she'd never come back from it.

"A couple of years ago was wild," Wilson says in the doc. "Everything I'd ever dreamed about kinda happened all at once. You know, when opportunities come at you, and you didn't have any for so long, you wanna just take 'em all. And I guess a little bit of that was probably fear that they weren't always gonna be there."

Adjusting to her newfound fame and public persona was uncharted territory, which left her feeling lost. "I was probably finding my self-worth in what I was doing," the *Yellowstone *actress says. "The performer, the artist, the songwriter, the girl who's going and shaking everybody's hands and kissing everybody's babies — instead of who I truly am."

Between recording and touring, Wilson, who considers herself an "introverted extrovert," was feeling "overstimulated." Finding time to recharge amid her crazy schedule was a challenge.

"I think I was not feeling [like] myself for a couple of years," she says in one scene during a candid conversation with her manager, Mandelyn Monchick. "I had reached a point where I was just like, 'I don't know if I'll ever be the same.' I was extremely anxious, and the anxiousness caused depression, and … the depression caused more anxiousness, because I was like, 'Why in the world am I depressed during this time of my life? This is everything I've ever wanted.'"

Lainey Wilson in 'Lainey Wilson: Keepin' Country Cool'.

courtesy netflix

While her team offered a solid support system, her exhaustion eventually became too much to handle. "I had … several breakdowns, I guess you could say," Wilson recalls in *Keepin’ Country Cool.* "I was just losing it. I was like, 'I don't know if I can, like, go any further.'"

Monchick recounts an alarming phone call she received from Wilson at the time while the singer was at the St. Louis airport. "She said, 'I can't stop crying. I think I'm losing my mind.'"

"I thought I was not gonna come back from that either — it was a solid panic attack for, like, multiple days," says Wilson, who forced herself to power through her anxiety and continue performing. "I had played shows and everything while I was having the panic attack."

"It was terrifying," Wilson adds. "It was a chemical imbalance happening. I was, like, spiraling out of control. And then it's the fear of thinking that you're always gonna be stuck in that mindset. It causes more anxiety. It's just, like, a vicious cycle."

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The singer eventually turned to her former collaborator and hero, country icon Reba McEntire, for advice. "I said, 'This is a loaded question, but what do you do when you feel like you can't go any further?'" Wilson remembers. "And she said, 'I do it for somebody else.'"

McEntire's words of wisdom resonated with Wilson. "And that right there has put so much in perspective for me," she says in* *the documentary*.* "I get on that stage and I do it for other people."

Reba McEntire and Lainey Wilson in 2024.

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Now, Wilson — who won the 2024 Grammy Award for Country Album of the Year, for *Bell Bottom Country* — finds herself more comfortable with life in the spotlight.

"I was putting so much pressure on myself to get it right, to be right, to be perfect, to show up, sing the damn song, look good doing it," she says in the doc, holding back tears. "And I think once I realized that I can't completely screw it up — like, say I hit a bad note, say I don't look the best — I think just knowing that I found my place and I ain't going anywhere… I feel like now that I've, like, put my stake in the ground, it definitely takes some stress off."

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These days, she says she's also able to separate Lainey the artist from the real Lainey. "I'm not *just* a singer, songwriter, musician — that's what I do," she told PEOPLE in an interview for her new cover story. "Trophies and awards are things that come along with success, but it cannot define me as a person, because that’s when I lose sight of who I am. I got to keep my head screwed on straight."

*Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool *premieres April 22 on Netflix.

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