On a new episode of the Rooted Recovery Stories podcast, singer-songwriter Tayla Lynn — who is Loretta Lynn‘s granddaughter — told her story of overcoming addiction and described the abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her stepfather.

Tayla is Lynn’s paternal grandmother; her dad, Ernest, is the country legend’s oldest son. Ernest and Tayla’s mother, Cindy Pelmons, got divorced the same year Tayla was born.

Though her dad wasn’t a big part of her life, Tayla has often shared fond memories of her famous grandmother, who often brought her on tour and supported her as she worked towards sobriety.

Now, Tayla tells podcast host Patrick Custer that Lynn was one of the only people in her family who believed her when she told them she was being abused.

“My grandmother and my aunt, the most beautiful gift that they could have ever given me — and I don’t know where these pictures are, but I can remember in my mind, going to their home and them taking pictures of the bruises,” she recounts. “and them saying, ‘We believe you, we believe you.'”

Tayla says that she suffered broken ribs and black eyes, and that she and her mother would get stuck in a vicious cycle of leaving and then coming back home to their abuser.

But being believed wasn’t something she could count on from other members of the family: To this day, she says, some friends and relatives brush off her stories of abuse.

“I like some people think I say it [because I think] maybe it’s gonna get me somewhere,” she speculates. “I do like shock value, obviously, but … I still think that there is an element of not believed, and ‘That’s just Tayla.'”

Even more important than having the pictures as evidence that she was being abused, Tayla goes on to say, was the validation of her grandmother and aunt taking her seriously.

“So in my mind, any time I question myself about these things, [I have] that gift of them showing me what it looks like — ‘Tayla, look at this, this is true,'” she explains.

Lynn died in October 2022 at the age of 90.

Carena Liptak is an Associate Editor and staff writer at Taste of Country. She specializes in breaking country music news, interviews and lists. In particular, she’s got a soft spot for sad songs — check out her roundup of the 50 Saddest Country Songs of All Time!