Kenny Chesney Admits He’s Got Some ‘Social Anxiety’

Kenny Chesney opened up about his personal life – and why it’s so important to him to keep that private – during a Q&A at music industry event Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, Tuesday (March 14).

During a panel discussion, Kenny said in the wake of his short-lived and highly publicized 2005 marriage to actress Renee Zellweger he developed “social anxiety.”  Billboard reports he said, “What is interesting is we were playing stadiums already, and after that…  I didn’t have social anxiety before that, (but) then you add our success and then you add that to your life and you have a little bit of social anxiety.”

He added, “Dealing with the way the world is today and how social everything is, and how information is transferred — yeah, you’d have to be crazy to want to be a celebrity today.”

In fact, Kenny says he doesn’t really enjoy being a celebrity, explaining, “I enjoy certain things about it.  I shy away from the celebrity thing.  I say no to a lot of things that come my way that a lot of people might say yes to — it’s too celebrity-oriented in nature.  I would rather be creating.”

While Kenny admits that certain aspects of his life are “fair game” for the media, others are not.  He said, “One of the reasons I’m so private is when my life started to change and people started caring at a different level, the only thing I could keep to myself was the intimate details of my life.  Everything else is fair game…  Can people talk about you?  They make stuff up, they run with it, the media runs with it.  People are really curious to know those intimate details, I get that.  But the reason I’m so private is that if I don’t keep those intimate details to myself, where do I go?  What else do I have?”

FAST FACTS

• Kenny’s latest single is “Beer With My Friends” featuring Old Dominion.
• The song will be included on an upcoming project.
• His headlining I Go Back Tour is set to launch on March 23rd in Charlottesville, VA with special guest Kelsea Ballerini.