During a July 2013 interview with Entertainment Tonight, LeAnn Rimes revealed she suffered bullying as a child. “I was bullied when I was a kid — when I was in junior high,” she told the outlet. “A lot of girls can get real mean during the sixth-grade year.” Speaking more on the bullying experience, Rimes recounted getting her locker egged and almost being killed by a girl who took a knife to school. “I used to perform around Dallas and Texas, where I lived a lot,” she shared. “My principal would put something on the bulletin board if I was in the newspaper or something, and there was this clique of girls that did not like it.”
But while middle school days are well over for the singer, bullying went beyond childhood. “I’ve been such a target, I guess, for misjudgment lately, and [get] a lot of anger from some people, especially through social media,” she shared with Entertainment Tonight. “Obviously, we’re [celebrities] underneath a microscope and in the spotlight all the time, but it’s no reason to be able to pick apart someone the way that a lot of people do.”
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Given her experiences, Rimes has since gotten involved in anti-bullying campaigns, particularly those aiming to help the LGBTQ+ community. In 2017, Rimes was honored with the Ally for Equality Award for her enthusiastic advocacy. “LeAnn Rimes is boldly using her influence in the music world to empower people to accept and be their true selves,” Blake Brockway, co-chair of the HRC Nashville Equality Dinner, said at the time (per The Human Rights Campaign).
