Just in time for the back to school season, proud “Redneck Woman” Gretchen Wilson will be hitting the books just like students across the country.
The country star and high school dropout is studying for the General Education Development test, which she’s hoping to complete this year.
“I had a pretty tough home life,” Wilson said of her childhood in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “I just knew by the time I hit about 14 or 15 that I wanted to get out there and kind of start my own life, start over and start doing things my way.”
So she did, working as a bartender to make ends meet before she skyrocketed to fame with her breakout hit “Redneck Woman” in 2004.
Now 33, Wilson says the birth of her 6-year-old daughter Grace made her want to go back to school.
“I never had regrets until I had a child,” she said. “I started realizing how important that was, how slim the chances were of my dream really coming true. And where would I be right now if they hadn’t come true [with] what kind of an education I have? And I wouldn’t really be anywhere. I’ d probably be pouring drinks, just like I was before I got the record deal.”
She’s hoping her fans will follow her lead.
“I hope that it inspires some of those kids that are my age when I decided to quit that they really don’t have that much longer and that it might be tough, but if you can stick it out just another year or two or whatever it might be, it will be easier than going back,” she said.
“I really hope that it inspires a lot of adults that missed that opportunity to find the time and go back and do it,” she said. “And it’s not as hard as you think it is. … Finding people who care and who want to help you pass that test is not as hard as you think.”
