Willie Nelson Saved Druggie Granddaughter’s Life

Willie Nelson — the ailing outlaw-country legend, entrepreneur and social activist — years ago rescued his homeless teenage granddaughter from a desperate life on the streets!

That’s the shocker dropped by Rebecca Thomas (center, right), now 42, the child of Willie’s daughter Susie (top, left) and Roy Owen — who divorced when she was less than a year old!  “He saved my life,” Rebecca told a source for The National ENQUIRER.

Susie got custody, but was busy with her own singing career and left the Willie's granddaughter with babysitters and nannies. The relationship became stormy over years and one day, “my mother called me and said, ‘Get out of my house,’" Rebecca recalled.

“I pleaded with her to tell me why. But all she said was, ‘I just want you gone!’” The rejected girl ran to her remarried dad, but they too clashed. One night, when she came home an hour after her curfew, “he would not speak to me. His wife let me in and told me to pack my bags.

"I found a note on my bed ... saying, ‘Hope you have a great life and make it on your own. Goodbye. Roy.’” The heartbroken teen ended up on the streets. She says she would sit “in parks and cry” and hitchhike to friends' homes, where she’d crash on their sofas.

She penned a heartfelt letter to Willie, shown here in an early portrait, pleading for help, writing: “You’ve always told me if I ever needed help, you would be there for me. I have no home and no money and I’m scared and lonely … I need to know somebody in my family still loves me!”

Willie took her in and helped put her life on track. Now, Rebecca, her husband, Christopher, and their son live near her granddad’s ranch in Austin, Tx, and she works as a cosmetologist for country performers. Said Rebecca: “He helped me find myself and become a better person.”