‘I give myself a lot more grace now’: LeAnn Rimes on the brutal reality of fame

Country singer LeAnn Rimes opens up about why becoming famous at 13 was ‘not good for me’, and what led her to no longer feel the ‘need to control everything’.

LeAnn Rimes feels ‘more at ease’ in her life now, as she sits down with Stellar to discuss her time in Australia shooting The Voice. Picture: Nick Wilson

Growing older has brought LeAnn Rimes a welcome sense of liberation. When she became famous at the age of 13, the US singer/songwriter often found herself feeling constrained by public expectations that she would simply go on to remain the same fresh-faced country singer.

“I don’t think people honestly, until my 30s, allowed me to grow up,” Rimes tells Stellar in her first major interview since joining The Voice Australia as a coach

 Now about to turn 42 and having enjoyed success as a pop singer and an actor, Rimes has reached a point where she puts less stock in other people’s opinions.

As she explains, “I guess I’m more at ease at this point in my life, and no longer feel the need to control everything.”

Picture: Nick Wilson

When Rimes broke through in 1996 with her hit single ‘Blue’, she earnt comparisons to country legend Tanya Tucker, who also had her first hit at the same age in the ’70s. But Rimes, who grew up in the southern US state of Mississippi appreciating all styles of music, ultimately decided that she would transition to pop.

Many of her earliest fans viewed the move as a betrayal.“In this industry,” says Rimes, “people like to pigeonhole you because it’s easier for them to sell. But basically, I don’t know how anyone could ask a 13-year-old girl to stay in a lane.”

To that end, she believes it’s extremely difficult for any young performer to grow up in the spotlight.

“And especially for someone like me, who is kind of America’s sweetheart, in a way,” she explains with a shrug.

“People just want to keep you stuck at that age. They don’t want you to grow and they don’t want to see you change. But part of growing up as a woman is exploring our sexuality.”

Her cameo in the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly – and her single ‘Can’t Fight The Moonlight’ that featured on its soundtrack – sent a clear signal that Rimes had indeed grown up.

Upon reflection, Rimes can see that she did try to push some boundaries with that song, which became a massive hit in Australia.

The country star pictured in country music epicentre Nashville, Tennessee. Picture: Getty Images

With husband Eddie Cibrian, left, in 2014. Picture: Getty Images

“You don’t know you’re doing it at the time, but I didn’t want to be boxed into that 13-year-old’s life,” she reflects. “We [as artists] have this public-facing persona, and it can be really challenging when you feel like who you are is separate.

For me, it has been really important to merge those two, so that I feel like the whole.”

Joining The Voice allows Rimes to offer a new generation of artists the wisdom of her experiences in the spotlight and the recording studio.

Taking on the role of coach has been particularly meaningful because when she was starting out, she didn’t have a consistent mentor.

“And because I was so young, I often felt like an outcast,” she tells Stellar. “It wasn’t until later that I really felt I had peers I could call upon.”

Listen to the latest episode of Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About below:

While Rimes has toured Australia in the past, doing The Voice gave her the chance to soak up more of the sights in Sydney, where the show films. Well, to a point.

She “did the quintessentially tourist” things such as visit Taronga Zoo and climb the Harbour Bridge with her husband, actor Eddie Cibrian. (The pair married in 2011, and Rimes became a stepmother to his sons – Mason, now 21, and Jake, 17 – with ex-wife and former The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville.)

On the blue carpet at the CMT Awards in 2010. Picture: AP Photo/Peter Kramer

However, after 15-hour days on set, Rimes laughingly admits her downtime was often spent “recovering on the couch”.

She also spent time hanging out with her fellow Voice coaches, taking in the Pink concert with Adam Lambert and enjoying dinner with Guy Sebastian’s family after a songwriting session at his house.

“I loved it because I felt like I was eating out so much.  It was so nice to have a slow-cooked lasagne at [his] home.”As she settled into her role, Rimes leant on show veteran Sebastian for guidance and would call him to ask: “What have I gotten myself into?”

She admits she struggled with having to spruik herself as a better coach than Sebastian, Lambert or Kate Miller-Heidke while trying to secure singers for her team.

“It’s the worst part of the job but I’ve learnt some tricks of the trade,” she adds.Despite the singer’s enduring successes, there are still moments when she has self-doubt, even though she now realises public criticism isn’t a reflection of her “but of the person who is criticising”.

Being a celebrity also poses a challenge for an empathetic person, explains Rimes, because “you have to care and not care at all in the same breath. I think we all can be really critical of ourselves as women, anyway. It’s easy to do. I have great days when I feel amazing and others where I feel bloated and gross. I really give myself a lot more grace these days to just roll with what life is presenting.”

Thankfully, there’s far more awareness about the vulnerability of young singers than there was when the likes of Rimes, Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson came to fame and were routinely savaged by the media and celebrity bloggers in the early 2000s.

Rimes says she can now see some benefits and increased cultural sensitivity stemming from the #MeToo movement and the 2021 documentary Controlling Britney Spears, which opened eyes to the pressures faced by young performers.

For her part, Rimes came up through the industry relatively unscathed. But, she explains, “I’m sure if I really think back there were some questionable situations that I was able to remove myself from quickly. I definitely had times where a lot of people around me were not good for me. I think you start to realise quickly as you grow up who you want to surround yourself with. We all go through our own version of it.

LeAnn Rimes appears inside this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

“I was lucky not to have gone through some of the pitfalls a lot of other artists do.”

When asked if #MeToo and modern discussions on body positivity, inclusivity and acceptance have made things easier for the next generation of stars, Rimes reveals that she’s of two minds.

“I do think it’s easier. But they also have social media. We didn’t have that, and it’s so much harder now to have a bit of anonymity. I think we have a better understanding of how we mistreated people [then], but I don’t know if it has completely shifted. It’s still incredibly harsh and judgmental.

“You have to have a really strong backbone to be in this industry.

“It’s harder still to not put up walls to protect yourself. You want to be able to be your sensitive, outgoing, authentic self, but there’s a fine line,” she adds. “There has to be some self-protection. You don’t want to allow yourself too much that no-one can get to you. And it’s really easy to do that.”    

The Voice Australia season 13 premieres at 7.30pm on August 19 on the Seven Network. For more from Stellar, click here.