Vince Gill said he once almost got into a fight with his best friend because she started disrespecting his wife, Amy Grant.
“Everyone who meets her is crazy about her,” the country star said Thursday on Phil Rosenthal and David Wilde’s “Naked Lunch” podcast. “I remember when we first got married, I was really good friends with[legendary radio host]Don Imus…and he was, you know, a character. And he loved me forever, and me and Delbert McClinton were his favorites, two of his favorite singers.”
But Gill said that after he and Grant married, Imus “flipped” at him and “turned against me in a way and started hounding me and trolling me every morning on his show.”
According to Gill, Imus “would say, ‘I can’t believe my favorite singer, Vince Gill, lost Baby Jesus and married that Christian girl,’ blah, blah, blah. So he was just being unreasonable with me.”
Immediately after that, when her new album came out, she told her publicist that she wanted to appear on the Idolmaster program.
“And they said, ‘Are you crazy?’ I said, ‘No.’ I said, “I want to do a show.” And they said, “Well, he beats you every day.” I said, “I know.” So I ended up appearing on the show,” he explained.
He first sang on the Idolmaster show, then made some small talk, “and then Amy’s name came up.”
“He said something about Amy, and I said, ‘I’m glad you brought it up,'” he continued. “I said, ‘I’ve heard you say some pretty awful things about my wife, and I’m just wondering why.’ I kept saying, ‘You used to be a great supporter of mine.’
The “When I Call Your Name” singer confronted Imus about the fact that he had never met Grant.
“I said, ‘If I ever met her, I would never say an unkind word about her,'” Gill said, adding that to Imus, “I said, ‘I’m going to shoot you straight in the face.'” I said, “There’s only one reason I came on this show.” I said. “Either we talk about this and make it right, or I’m going to crawl across this desk and kick your a-. ”
Imus’ “eyes got big,” Gill said, and he thought, “I better understand this.”
“I said, ‘Good choice, Don.’ So we had a great visit, and I left the studio and was heading home, and I turned on his show and he was still doing his show, and I heard him say, ‘I don’t know why I was being so horrible to that guy. I love that guy.’ And then he completely turned around and we remained great friends until he passed away.”
Gil and Grant married in March 2000 and will celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary this year.
