Rascal Flatts guitarist Joe Don Rooney is breaking his silence, revealing that he’s been sober for more than two years since he was arrested in 2021 for DUI after a crash outside Nashville, Tennessee.
The country music musician wrote a lengthy post on X on Jan. 3 in which he reflected on the past two years and the changes in his life.
“First off, I am alive!” he wrote. “There have been so many rumors and opinions thrown around about me — but I’m finally healthy and ready for the world.”
In 2021, Rooney was arrested for DUI when he hit a line of trees in Franklin, Tennessee, at 4 a.m., authorities said. He pleaded guilty in 2022 and served two days in jail.
“I was drunk and I was so far gone with my life — I was completely out of control and finished with trying to fight the fears, depression and anxieties that had spun me out in a way I’ve never experienced before,” he wrote about that time in the new post. “My drinking had been an issue for many years — and as they say in AA and treatment, it’s a progressive disease. I am living proof that the progressive nature of drinking can really ratchet up and as I grew older as an adult my drinking grew worse.”
Rooney wrote that a combination of the pressures of his career and “pain and trauma” from his childhood contributed to his drinking. Rascal Flatts, which was nominated for four Grammy Awards and produced 12 No. 1 country hits, disbanded in 2020 when a farewell tour was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The musician also detailed how his drinking affected his marriage. Rooney finalized his divorce from ex-wife Tiffany Fallon, with whom he shares three children, in September, according to People.
“I was not a good father — I was not a good husband — and I was not a good band mate to my business partners,” he wrote. “I probably would’ve…
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