Ingrid Andress says she felt like 'America's punching bag' after drunk national anthem performance

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Country music singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress broke her silence for the first time on Thursday, nearly a year after she admitted herself to rehab following her admission that she had been "drunk" during her controversial national anthem performance at the 2024 MLB Home Run Derby.

Andress, 33, appeared on "The Viall Files" podcast this week to discuss the fallout from her performance and what transpired just before she took the field at Globe Life Field in Arlington in mid-July. 

Ingrid Andress sings the national anthem prior to the 2024 T-Mobile Home Run Derby. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

"That day started as a very – what seemed like a normal day," Andress recalled. "At that point, like that day, I knew that I was drinking, but I was really loving the numbing feeling that I was having, and so I just didn’t stop."

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The four-time Grammy nominee explained that a recent split with her first manager and a breakup had prompted her to begin drinking excessively in the months leading up to her performance. She admitted that in her state at the time, she had been unaware of the crowd and fan reaction at home and had believed that she had "kind of nailed it." 

"It wasn’t until I woke up the next day where I was like ‘OK, this is so unlike me. This is not OK. I need help,’" Andress said. "I didn’t realize how much the video was going viral, because I had never experienced anything like that."

Andress later admitted in a statement she shared on social media that she had been "drunk" while singing the national anthem. She said on Thursday that she had shared the statement