Zia Country Artist Wins the 13th Season of The Masked Singer

Zia Country is happy to share this article from People Magazine on Gretchen’s win with you!

Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season 13 finale of The Masked Singer.

NEED TO KNOW

• Gretchen Wilson won the latest season of The Masked Singer
• The “Redneck Woman” singer tells PEOPLE she was sure Andy Grammer had it in the bag
• “I feel like it’s sort of a comeback moment,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’m ready to take on anything”

Gretchen Wilson almost wanted to give away her Masked Singer win.

“I was absolutely positive that Boogie won,” the “Redneck Woman” singer, 51, tells PEOPLE of season 13 runner-up Boogie Woogie, aka Andy Grammer. “I thought he was just the most amazing singer. In my head, he had won it weeks before. I was so stunned because I had myself ready to hear that I was second place. I was so ready for it, I had already decided that that’s what it should be in my head.”

As a result, the mom of 24-year-old daughter Gracie says “it shocked me” that when host Nick Cannon announced her as the winner on Wednesday, May 7, also beating out Coral (actress Meg Donnelly) and Mad Scientist Monster (Florida Georgia Line alum Brian Kelley).

“But being a mom, I felt bad,” she continues. “It was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, I’m happy with second! He won!’ I think that’s probably how he would’ve felt, too. He’s just such an incredibly, incredibly likable person. I wished I could have shared it with him.”

Still, Wilson accepted the Golden Mask trophy, and she feels like the victory marks a new chapter in her career. “I feel like it’s sort of a comeback moment,” she says. “I’m ready to take on anything.”

Wilson muses on being an eternal “crab,” whether she’s still got it in her 50s and embracing life’s unknowns.

PEOPLE: Why did you want to go on The Masked Singer?

GRETCHEN WILSON: Having spent the last 20+ years being the Redneck Woman, that’s what a lot of people recognize me as. They don’t even know my name, they just see me in the store and they’re like, “Hey, you’re that redneck girl.” I’ve had to spend a lot of time being that rough and tumble, girl next door, no dresses, no makeup, just be kind of plain Jane kind of girl. So, when I saw that costume, I was like, this is an opportunity for me to be a girly girl. This is an opportunity for me to be a side of me that I don’t often get to show because it’s not what people are expecting from me.

I loved the chance at being Pearl. And I separate us completely. When I see Pearl, I don’t see Gretchen, I just see Ms. Pearl. But I’m starting to come to the realization that that is me, that’s just a different part of me that I don’t often show or share.

Do you feel like you were able to show that other side of you by winning the show?

I feel like that there are a lot of people out there who had me summed up as this one thing, that are now going to be able to go, “Oh, wow, she’s multidimensional.” There was a big part of me that was just like, I want people to see that I’m not just that one thing that they have decided that I am. That was important to me.

As a woman in business, even in this day, you’re still trying to fight for the credits that you deserve. I can get on the phone sometimes with a radio station, and they’ll literally ask me, “Who wrote ‘Redneck Woman?’” It’s like, “I did, is that so hard to believe? Is it so hard to believe that I produce my own albums? That I’m more than just a tambourine player and a voice?” But we do, we still have to fight for our credit, it seems like. There was a big part of me that was just like, I want people to see that I’m not just that one thing that they have decided that I am.

Has your success performing as Pearl encouraged you to embrace your more girly side more?

It did rub off a little bit, because I did buy a dress for an award show. I’m not going to wear it, but I bought it. That’s a step in the right direction.

How did it feel performing inside of the costume?

I think that my costume was probably easier than a lot of them are. I looked around at some of them and I was like, I’m going to shut up now. But it’s heavy. And there’s layers and layers because they don’t want any of your real skin showing. Anything that even looks like skin isn’t skin, it’s a skin suit. So more than heavy, it’s hot, especially when you’re going through the camera blocking and the actual performances, there’s just so much adrenaline.

But yeah, for me, it was just a matter of, hey, post-COVID, post a bunch of health things that I had to work through, do I still have it? Can I still, at my age, get out there and work it like the young girls do? Can I still do this kind of choreography? Do I have the breath that it takes to do these kind of performances? It was a real learning experience for me, but it was also me proving to myself that I’m not done yet.

You’re doing The Road competition show with Blake Shelton and Keith Urban — do you want to stay in the TV world? What’s next for you?

I don’t know. I have no idea what life’s going to bring, what challenges, what rewards, what craziness might come. What I do know is having completed these last two things. This one, especially, what I went through, the challenges that I faced, I feel like I can take almost anything on. Whether it’s familiar or unfamiliar, let’s just see how it goes at this moment.

You received some really sweet words from your daughter in the finale. Has she always respected you in your career?

Growing up, she was immediately turned off by country music and everything that I did, because no little girl wants to be like their mom; they want to be the opposite of their mom. I brought her up to think for herself. She’s a very independent young woman and she does what she wants, the way she wants to do it. Like all mothers and daughters, we went through her teenage years, where it was just like, I wasn’t so cool. But now that she’s a young adult, she’s circling back.

They tell me that that’s how it happens, that after a few years away from home, they all realize that their parents weren’t really that bad actually. So, we’ve got a really great friendship, and woman to woman, we have great talks, and we have a good friendship as well as a good mother and daughter relationship.

It was sweet to see your son-in-law come on the show too, and talked about that moment of asking for your approval to marry your daughter.

I thought it was funny, what he didn’t say was — I asked him after, I said, “Well, did you talk to her father yet?” And he said, “No, ma’am, because quite honestly, this is the scarier of the two conversations.” He’s a good kid, he’s a good one. They’re perfect for each other, they really are. I’m very happy that they found each other.

You spoke on the show about how having a hard exterior presented problems for you in your life. Do you feel like you’ve changed at all in that regard?

No, I think that just because it’s been who I am for so many years, I don’t think that there’s any changing that.  I’m always going to be that crab. But it’s just a part of me that I like to keep to myself, I guess.

Do you think it’s just about finding someone who understands you?

No, I feel sorry for the man whoever decides that they can fix this or figure this out. I’ve decided at this point in my life that it’s not what’s wrong with all the men in the world, it’s just that I haven’t yet met a man who is capable of taking all of this on, because it’s a lot.

What are you looking for in a partner?

Definitely older, no children or grandchildren, and his own money in the bank. I sound like I’m on an episode of Sex and the City.