Loretta Lynn_ Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn [81]
24
The Truth about My Health
The way I let you treat me,
It’s enough to make me sick.…
—“What Makes Me Tick,” by Loretta Lynn
The deal with the Hyden show broke my health because it came at the time of the separation from the Wilburns. My health got so bad, there were all kinds of rumors going about me.
One of the rumors was I was drinking too much, another rumor was I was having a nervous breakdown, another that I had cancer, and another that I was taking some kind of pills or dope. That’s a pretty exciting combination for a girl to have, ain’t it? The truth ain’t as exciting, but at least it’s the truth, and this is where I set the story straight.
The breakup with the Wilburns caused me to lose my appetite. I couldn’t eat or sleep right. I started to lose weight during 1971 and people said I looked different. The Johnson girls were so afraid of me losing my spunk that they’d say anything just to get me riled up. Loretta Johnson would just tease me until I started rassling with her. Then she’d laugh like a maniac, because I was getting back to the mean old country girl she knew. But in truth, I was getting worn down.
I remember one time at the Disc Jockey Convention in 1971, when I stayed up all night giving interviews until I couldn’t sit up straight. Around midnight, I was supposed to go to a club to get some kind of award. But I was so tired, and then some guy I knew reminded me it was time to go, and I started yelling at him in words I’m not about to repeat. I didn’t realize I knew those words. But this guy wasn’t aware of how bad I was feeling, and he started shouting back at me. I kept getting louder and louder, saying those words over and over again. They tell me that everybody was staring at me, I hardly knew what was coming off.
Now I don’t know what you’d call this feeling. Some people would say I was “overwrought” or “overtired.” Some people would say I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t good. And I suspect my health was the cause of most of it.
With my periods, always irregular, I’d get such bad cramps that it would be difficult for me to perform for three or four days. The older I got, the worse they became.
I’ve also had migraine headaches since I was around seventeen, but they got even worse around this time. Some people believe migraines are caused by tensions in your job or in your marriage. But I feel like mine are just a family weakness. I remember my Daddy had ’em. He’d pace the floor just holding his head and sobbing. Now it was starting to catch up with me. I could feel this ache coming on, and unless I’d lie down and sleep, it would turn into this headache that would make me just pass out. Then I started passing out on stage.
Now, friends, if you really want to try something unusual, try passing out in front of 5,000 people. Fortunately, the boys in my band have learned to tell when it’s coming. They just take me by the elbow and help me sit until it passes, or else they help me off the stage. One time I was off the stage about forty-five minutes and when I came back, Don Ballinger and the boys had done such a good job playing and joking that nobody cared whether I came back or not.
But what bothered me was hearing some fans afterward. “She must have been drunk,” some fans said.
I couldn’t believe it. I hardly ever drink, and there’s a good reason. Have you ever known an Indian who could drink? My Daddy, who was part Indian, couldn’t drink either. Give him one sip and he’d be just about drunk. My Mommy had some homemade brandy once and went right to sleep. It’s just a curse we Indians have. The most I can take is a sloe gin fizz once in a while, and never near a performance. I don’t even take coffee, much less alcohol. None of it’s good for you. I feel sorry for people who drink.
But can you believe it? They thought I was drunk. Now when I don’t feel good I make an announcement that