“I think if it had happened when I was 18 or 21, who knows if I’d even be here now because I was a little bit looser back in those days,” the multifaceted star, 69, confessed.

“I’m kind of happy about that because I grew up in the music business, so I was already familiar with being in the entertainment business, but not to that degree,” Thornton continued. “And I think growing up as a musician helped me prepare for some of it because we could be local heroes, sometimes as musicians or regional. But this was a big blast.”