LORETTA LYNN
THE COUNTRY LEGEND’S LOVING FAMILY HELPED HER SURVIVE HER MOST DIFFICULT YEAR EVER
The Coal Miner’s Daughter draws strength from her family after enduring her toughest year.
“I always had a different mindset — that I can do this.”
— Loretta
As the calendar flips to 2019, Loretta Lynn will be toasting the new year, grateful to have so much love in her life. The famed performer broke a hip last January — less than a year after suffering a stroke — and has been leaning on her kids as she works toward a full recovery. “She’s come out of the stroke very well,” says a close insider. “But Loretta says it’s been one of the roughest years she’s ever had — probably as rough as when she lost [her husband] Doolittle.”
NEW CHALLENGES
Loretta, 86, who wasn’t well enough to attend the CMT Awards where she was honored in October, has been receiving physical therapy. With the support of her four surviving children, she hopes to get back onstage this May. “Her daughters Patsy and Peggy are there every day. When you see them around their mother, you can tell they love her more than anything in life,” says the insider, who confides that Loretta still struggles with the use of her left arm. “Your mind tells you, ‘You can!’ but your body soon tells you, ‘No, you can’t quite do this.’ Got to work at it,” admits Loretta.
News that she’d received a Grammy Award nomination for “Wouldn’t It Be Great,” a song she wrote for her late husband on her new album of the same name, further motivated Loretta. “I will get completely better if I go out and hit the stage,” she says. “I need to show everybody that I can do it.”
After all, this country music superstar has never been a quitter. “Her belief in the Lord has gotten her through,” says the insider. “Also the love of her fans. She doesn’t want to disappoint her fans.” — Louise A. Barile,
with reporting by Katie Bruno