Kenny Chesney talked about something he never addresses at Nashville’s recent CRS: his marriage and annulment from Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger. When asked about keeping his personal life private and if the quick marriage had anything to do with that, Kenny said, “That changed a lot. What is interesting is we were playing stadiums already, and after that, I didn’t have social anxiety before that, [but] then you add our success, and then you add that to your life, and you have a little bit of social anxiety.”
He added, “And now, dealing with the way the world is today and how social everything is, and how information is transferred — yeah, you’d have to be crazy to want to be a celebrity today.”
Chesney was then asked if he enjoyed being a celebrity. He answered, “Not really. I enjoy certain things about it, I shy away from the celebrity thing.” He added, “I say no to a lot of things that come my way that a lot of people might say yes to — it’s too celebrity-oriented in nature.”
Why He Isn’t Active On Social Media
Kenny also discussed making music and why he only does a little on social media. He offered, “I just don’t feel comfortable going down that road. I work really hard to be this person, and I want to keep some sort of dignity and integrity intact and not feel like I’m selling my soul to get higher in the consumption chart. I realize that the person I am today, some things are fair game.”
Chesney explained, “One of the reasons I’m so private is when my life started to change, and people started caring at a different level, the only thing I could keep to myself was the intimate details of my life. Now everything else is fair game. Can people talk about you? They make stuff up; they run with it, the media runs with it. People are really curious to know those intimate details; I get that. But the reason I’m so private is that if I don’t keep those details to myself, where do I go? What else do I have?”
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Chesney revealed that he is creating his next album, noting that he’s nearly halfway done with the project. He said, “The next record is important — they are all important. No matter who you are or where you’re at in your career arc, every album is important. You want somebody to chase their own dreams because of your music.”
On March 26th, Kenny will celebrate his 55th birthday. He says he plans to keep up his level of performance for some time, “I feel great. I still have the fire to go out there and give people every single thing I have.”