Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesWhile some people stick to the trick of 'thinking about the audience in their underwear' to calm performance jitters, veteran performer LeAnn Rimes has a few additional secrets up her sleeves.
The 31-year-old songbird broke down in tears while performing a medley of songs in a tribute to her idol, the great Patsy Cline, during the American Country Awards on Tuesday, Dec. 10, only to later admit she was fighting to hold back her emotions from the moment she hit the stage—and used sex as a tool for distraction.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly after the show, the country crooner, who looked lovely in a detailed pale pink gown with her blond locks styled in a chic a low bun, admitted she was thinking about sex while singing in an effort keep herself from crying.
"It was intense…I mean I know how much I've been influenced by her and how I feel about her and then you see a sea of people and artists who have been just as influenced and she's touched so many people. And about halfway through "Crazy," you see people start to cry and then you're like, 'oh my God,'" Rimes told Entertainment Weekly of her much-buzzed about performance before sharing her onstage secret. "My guitar player, he's always giving me the tricks that work—always think about sex when you start to cry."
"And I was thinking about sex a lot throughout the whole thing," she candidly added. "But once I got to "Sweet Dreams" you could hear a pin drop. By the end of it, it was just such an emotional moment for me. I was like, 'I'm done. I can't do this.' I'm just going to cry now!"
After Rimes belted out a series of songs during the soulful set, which marked the 50th anniversary of Cline's death, the singer put her hands to her mouth and looked up at the ceiling.
"I love you Patsy, thank you," Rimes told the audience as she softly wept.
She later took to Twitter to reflect over the memorable moment.
"I am humbled and still floating," she wrote of the special tribute.