Kellie Pickler hasn’t seen or heard from her mother since she was in the fourth grade.

When Pickler was young her parents divorced and her mom left. Pickler went to live with her grandparents Clyde Pickler Sr. and his wife Faye.

“We all go through different obstacles in life, but in the end we make it,” Pickler said during an exclusive interview with WCNC while on tour with Brad Paisley in Moline, Illinois.

Pickler’s life story piqued the curiosity of many after appearing on the hit show ‘American Idol’.

Our news partner the Charlotte Observer reported that Pickler’s mom Cynthia Morton returned to Albemarle in 1992, but rarely made contact with her daughter. Morton got custody of Pickler in 1995 while her father was in prison for armed robbery. (Read the Observer's entire article)

WCNC

Kellie Pickler wipes away tears after singing a song about her mother during a concert in Moline, Illinois.

"She got custody of me for two years," Pickler said in a February interview with the Observer. "During that time, she was physically and mentally abusive of me."

In a 1997 court filing the Observer learned that Pickler's grandparents said Morton had moved to Union County with the girl and treated her harshly. The court restored custody to the grandparents and Pickler hasn’t heard from her since.

Pickler wrote about her troubled relationship with her mother in her top 25 song ‘I Wonder.”

“I think it’s just probably the most honest song on the record,” Pickler told WCNC. “I feel like people relate to it.”

The song ends with the line “And just in case you’re wonderin’ about me. From now on I won’t be in Carolina. Your little girl is off … to Tennessee.”

“I always get teared up at the very end of the song,” Pickler said. “I think Tennessee is what really kills me.”

And during a recent performance in Moline, Illinois, it was no different. After performing the song Pickler got choked up and said, “The Lord has truly blessed me. I can’t complain about anything. I’m going to get out of my little pitty party.”

Pickler wiped away her tears and moved on to bring the crowd to their feet with her final song of the night, “Red High Heels.”