Lucy Hale Reveals She Skipped Grand Ole Opry Debut to Enter Rehab After 'Dangerous' Drinking

Lucy Hale revealed the moment she knew her drinking had become a serious problem.

The 37-year-old appeared on the Monday, September 21, episode of the "On Purpose" podcast with Jay Shetty and opened up about her struggle with alcohol abuse.

"I look back now and I’m like, 'Oh, it’s all so crystal clear that all the signs were there.' I don’t remember ever having a normal drinking experience. I remember the way alcohol was presented in my hometown or with friends, or even in society — millennials just liked to drink," she told Shetty.

Hale continued, "I always wanted more... I could never get enough of the feeling of just being so at ease. I remember just after a drink, it felt like my costume was coming off and Lucy could finally emerge, and I could be free, and I could be s---, and I could be funny."

However, drinking to let loose turned into a dependency she had to work to overcome.

"There was a very distinct shift for me one day. I was in a relationship with someone who also struggled. That’s when the drinking the day after started. I was like, 'Oh, wow, this really eases my hangover, my anxieties.' Then it would be more of a bender-type situation," the Pretty Little Liars alum explained.

"But it was still like in my early 20s, it was very fun. I didn’t want to admit I had a problem... I would say there was a dark turn around like 23, where I was drinking to the point where I would black out," the star added.

Around the time of the release of her debut album, 2014’s Road Between, Hale was invited by the Grand Ole Opry committee to perform at the legendary Nashville venue.

However, 2014 was also the "point where I was just drinking dangerous amounts, waking up in dangerous situations."

Hale recalled, "I woke up out of a blackout in a hotel room, and later — it was early in the morning — and later that day, I was going to sing at the Grand Ole Opry... I went to rehab instead."

"That morning, I called my manager and I said, 'I’m really scared. I don’t want to stop drinking, but I know I have to stop drinking,'" she confessed.

Hale shared, "My manager flew out, took me to rehab, all was kept under wraps. I had to cancel my tour because of drinking, which is why I’ve never really approached music again, which also makes me emotional because I love music, and I loved that time in my life."

"But because the music coincided with my issues, it’s taken me a long time to even look at photos of that time or listen to music from that time. And so I’m just now kind of okay even thinking about the idea of singing again," the actress concluded.

Hale was set to make her Opry debut on February 21, 2014. She claimed she had come down with symptoms of the flu in the cancelation note sent out to media outlets at the time, calling the performance "a lifelong dream."