Ashley McBryde "didn't want to talk" about her sobriety for more than a year.
The 40-year-old country music star decided to stop drinking more than a year ago but has held off making the announcement because she didn't want others waiting for her to fall off the wagon and has now revealed that she is feeling better than ever since she quit alcohol and smoking.
She told People: "I decided that I wasn’t gonna talk about it at all until at least a year because what I didn’t need was people on social media being like, ‘Ashley McBryde swears off alcohol!’ All people are gonna do is just wait for you to screw up, and that's really annoying.
"I did it for me. I didn't do it for social media. It’s the best I’ve felt, the best I’ve looked and the difference in my voice … If you had told me even 10 years ago, you think you love your voice? You should hear it without drinking, because along with drinking comes smoking for me."
Meanwhile, the 'Girl Goin' Nowhere' hitmaker went on to add that upon reaching her 40th birthday earlier this year, she did initially "worry" but now looks at the milestone as a "rite of passage".
She said: "I was worried about it a little bit but it feels like a nice rite of passage. If this were an animated film, this is where they place the crown on my head, where I’m just like … I am now me. And I think that all has to do with making all the decisions I’ve been making, making all the changes I’ve been making, and recognizing, that’s who I am. I’m halfway to 80, and I just met me!"
