In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, the country star, 33, reveals she once had three therapists, including one for business, who, she says, \u201chelps me get a point across with a little bow wrapped on top, because if I really let my Louisiana crazy side come out, I\u2019d be saying things a little sideways.\u201d<\/p>\n
On tour, “you have 100 something people with you, and you’re dealing with a lot of different personalities,” she says. “I want it to be an environment that people want to come and work. I want people to want to stick around for 30, 40 years, however long we’re out there getting it. So, she’s just teaching me that side of things and how to set boundaries.”<\/p>\n
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Lainey Wilson for PEOPLE
Credit: Alex G. Harper<\/p>\n
After moving to Nashville<\/a> in a camper trailer at 19 and spending nearly a decade grinding in the music business, Wilson landed her major-label deal in 2018.<\/p>\n As her career took off, Wilson struggled with anxiety and depression, which she opens up about in her forthcoming Netflix documentary, Lainey Wilson: Keepin\u2019 Country Cool (streaming April 22). A relentless radio tour schedule in 2019 pushed her to her breaking point: a days-long panic attack.<\/p>\n “I was going around meeting every radio station in America,” she says. “You go into a conference room and you play your song and sometimes they’re into it, sometimes they’re on their phone, sometimes you’re singing to the carpet.”<\/p>\n “After four months solid visiting all these different radio stations, I was just exhausted and I was burned-out from having to constantly be on,” she continues. “I wanted to curl up in a little ball and shut the world out completely.\u201d<\/p>\n Lainey Wilson for PEOPLE Advice from Reba McEntire<\/a> helped: \u201c’When I feel like I can\u2019t do it anymore, I do it for somebody else,\u2019\u201d Wilson recalls McEntire telling her, adding, \u201cIt was like a light bulb went off.\u201d<\/p>\n She carried that message into her Whirlwind world tour (which wrapped on March 6) by bringing a young \u201ccowgirl of the night\u201d onstage during each show and telling them, \u201cYou are beautiful, you\u2019re smart, you\u2019re talented, you can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Lainey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c2f17e4ac48d3e3755aa49f2be005a9f.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Alex G. Harper<\/p>\n
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