Billy Currington Discusses Years of Abuse

8/9/2007 Stephen L. Betts Billy Currington has revealed that he’ll take the rest of the year off to continue treatment for issues stemming from more than a decade of physical abuse as a child. In the upcoming issue of People magazine, which arrives on newsstands Friday, Billy says he returned to Nashville on July 26 after completing a 30-day stay at a trauma recovery program at Sierra Tucson in Arizona. He has canceled 83 shows and will leave for Hawaii on Aug. 26 to work with two therapists specializing in childhood trauma. In Thursday’s Nashville Tennessean, Billy tells People contributing writer and Tennessean columnist Beverly Keel that his first stepfather, whom Billy wrote about in "Walk a Little Straighter," physically abused him for years, including knocking him unconscious when he was 10. Billy began showing signs of trauma when he got into fights in grade school. "When you are taught to hate, you carry that with you," Billy says in the exclusive story. "Even today, I call myself 98 percent laid-back, but 2 percent is Little Billy, my inner child that's hurt, sad and furious because he was never taken care of. "My childhood did not turn me into an alcoholic or a drug addict; my challenge in life is my anger," Billy tells People. "I'd be Little Billy for two seconds, yelling and blowing up. And in those instances, that rage can destroy relationships, whether it's with a girlfriend or a business partner or a fan." More from Beverly’s interview with Billy will appear in this Sunday’s Tennessean.