COUNTRY fans are furious over TAYLOR SWIFT turning her back on ailing RANDY TRAVIS
The 54-year-old “Diggin’ Up Bones” singer is battling to save both his life and his career after suffering a near-deadly heart problem and a stroke last year, but when he begged Taylor to sing a duet with him, sources say she coldheartedly turned him down flat.
“Taylor sees Randy as a train wreck, an old has-been who trashed his career with his crazy drinking and arrests, and she doesn’t want to be seen within five miles of him,” said a source.
Randy has seven Grammy awards and 18 No. 1 singles, but his life spiraled out of control after he had an affair with his dentist’s wife and it led to the 2010 divorce from his wife/manager of 19 years, Lib Hatcher. He was arrested twice in 2012, once for public drunkenness and a second time for DUI, when police found him naked in the road after he crashed his car. Earlier that day he’d bizarrely wandered into a convenience store stark naked, trying to buy cigarettes.
“Lib kept Randy on the straight and narrow and turned him into a huge star,” said another source. “But without her, he went back to drinking and fell apart.
“Now, he’s living on his ranch in Texas with (his girlfriend) Mary Beougher, who’s still married to the dentist. Randy is at the lowest point in his life. He’s not yet ready to perform or record, but he’s desperate to start making things happen.
“He had his people approach Taylor and ask her to do a duet with him once he’s recovered enough to sing again.”
But Taylor – a seven-time Grammy winner – apparently wasn’t moved by Randy’s plight.
“Taylor has a bad reputation in Nashville for being a cold fish who turns her back on people who can’t further her career,” said the source. “It may sound cruel, but Taylor has put Randy in that category, and she’s not about to go out of her way to help him.
“No matter how desperately Randy may need her, she doesn’t need him – and that’s that.”
