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Ashley Cooke Leans on Community Amid “Crazy” Health Year
Ashley Cooke described 2024 as a year that has been both career‑defining and emotionally draining. After she had her first No. 1 at country radio with “your place” in June, she was forced to deal with a series of family health crises. “My dad had cancer for the fifth time,” she told E! News. “My mom had a heart attack. Both of my grandmothers passed away. My sister had stuff with her thyroid that she’s been posting about, too.”
Although she was overwhelmed with so much trouble, Cooke depended on her close friends, fans, and team to keep her spirit up—she was taking it one day at a time and still focusing on music and health.
Ashley Cooke Opens Up About Her Heart Diagnosis
On the other hand, the 28-year-old—who only last year experienced a breakup of her kind—has been carrying something quite literally on her heart.
“I was diagnosed with Brugada syndrome, which is something that a lot of my dad’s side of the family have,” Ashley explained further. “The hardest part is that I don’t stop learning about it every day. I really don’t know as much as I would like to because there isn’t really a lot that we can know.”
Brugada syndrome is a rare disease that may be the reason for an abnormal rhythm in the heart’s lower chambers, resulting in the brain not getting the blood pumped, and thus, it can cause sudden cardiac death, as per the Cleveland Clinic. The initiation is unattainable, but in most cases, it is inherited.
Ashley Cooke on Living with Brugada Syndrome
“It is a kind of syndrome that impacts you indirectly, and it is fatal, and that is just the way it goes,” Ashley Cooke explained. “A lot of people from my father’s side—unfortunately, they just out of the blue and without even knowing they had it—had a cardiac episode and they were gone.”
Besides that, the terrifying part, she said, is that “there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it.” Even though it does not affect her daily life, she admitted, “It is just one of those things that I happen to have and I just know that it could be the one that takes my life.”
While her acceptance might sound “weird and morbid”, Ashley admits but says she is doing fine and keeps upbeat. “I believe I am going to live a long, happy, and healthy life,” she said, “and that’s why I am like this, stronger than ever, with more sense of purpose.”
Ashley Cooke Has Her Personal Demons While She Achieves New Career Highs
Her last month was really busy Ashley Cooke was finishing her tour with Parker McCollum and starting her What You Know About That tour, opening for Lee Brice. And actually, she did not stop there! In the past year, she was a special guest in shows with Joe Jonas, Ne-Yo, and Jelly Roll, in addition to dropping fresh singles “swear words” and “tin foil hat.”
However, behind the glitter, Ashley confesses that she still carries the challenges of life. “Usually, it’s my family that helps me to get through,” she revealed. “They are the people that I would go to for talking and leaning, and they still are very much so. But it is really hard when it is their turn to be in need of the support.”
Ashley Cooke Gets Support Through Friendships After a Breakup
Before her split with her partner last year, Ashley Cooke revealed that she had been dependent on her partner for encouragement. Though after the separation, she has chosen to support herself with a different family.
During her tour with Kane Brown this past spring, Ashley became really close with her tourmates, including the fellow artist Mitchell Tenpenny. “I really got to lean on those friends throughout that season,” she said. “I remember talking to Mitchell, who lost his dad to cancer a couple of years ago—we talked about my dad’s diagnosis and my grandma passing, and he really was a rock for me.”
Thinking back of that time, Ashley also shared, “When your core group gets shaken up, one of the beautiful things is that it’s almost as if God is telling you, ‘You have other people in your life who are great. I put them there for you to rely on and to lean on.’”
Ashley Cooke Opens Up To Colleagues Which Changes Her View
Ashley Cooke admits that it’s not easy for her to open up to her colleagues, but changing her perspective has been the result of her doing so. “That really taught me that we’re all just humans,” she said. “We meet in professional senses, but at the end of the day, you connect through hardships, and you connect through all of it. So, let them in.”
Luke Bryan the country superstar is one of those people. He was so helpful when they were on tour together in 2023, I don’t think he could have been more. “He informed me that the most significant error musicians commit is being overly emotionally connected to their set list and doing the same thing every night without noticing the differences in the audiences,” she said.” “The reason why [live music] is so special is because you’re not just setting a speaker up and hitting play. You’re engaging.”
Ashley Cooke Recalls Best Advice Luke Bryan Gave Her
According to Ashley Cooke, the American Idol judge Luke Bryan would tell her to keep changing her ways and to not forget to have fun with each stage moment. “If there’s somebody holding up a sign that says that they lost their father to cancer last year, play ‘Drink a Beer’ instead of ‘Country Girl (Shake [It for Me]),’” she said. “That is the main reason why Luke has won Entertainer of the Year for so many years—his fans get the feeling that by being there they are the ones who control the show.”
Ashley is one of those people who have absorbed that teaching deeply. “I have since made it more of an effort to scribble my setlist in pencil rather than writing it down in pen,” she revealed.
