How Macy Gray’s Masked Singer meltdown is latest in life of fiery star branded ‘rudest person’ in showbiz by Brit celeb
STANDING six feet tall with husky vocals, Macy Gray was easy for the judges to identify on The Masked Singer at the weekend.
But the other clue to her identity was the American star’s shocking decision to storm off from the stage without taking her disguise off.
For The Sun can reveal that the 57-year-old performer, best known for her 1999 hit I Try, also threw a strop after she lost on the Australian version of the celebrity show.
In the UK edition on ITV1, it took production staff an hour to persuade Macy — dressed as Toad In The Hole — to go back on stage and remove her mask.
Traditionally, the stars beneath the disguises are supposed to reveal their identity as soon as they have been voted out by the panellists.
Soothing words backstage eventually persuaded Macy to go back on.
The hour-long delay was edited out of the pre-recorded programme so TV audiences would not see it.
But those watching at home on Saturday night — a day after The Sun revealed a mystery singer would walk off stage — did witness the awkward encounter with host Joel Dommett and panellists Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan, Maya Jama and guest judge Suranne Jones.
Jonathan tried his best to elicit some answers from the clearly miffed Macy once she had removed her Toad mask, but only received curt replies.
Similarly, when she was voted off three years ago Down Under, the singer refused to leave and vowed: “I’m continuing.”
‘Indulging in excess’
None of this will come as much of a surprise to people who have encountered Macy since she shot to fame a quarter of a century ago.
Legendary British photographer Lord Snowdon described her as the “rudest person” he worked with after she ran from a shoot.
Admitting to having an over- inflated ego, she also developed a reputation for cancelling gigs and turning up worse for wear.
There were rumours that she wanted to quit Dancing With The Stars — the US version of Strictly — in 2009 even before appearing for the first time.
When Macy was interviewed by Lorraine Kelly on her TV chatshow in 2019 she claimed to be a “vampire”, and a year earlier viewers were concerned about her rambling appearance on Loose Women.
A history of bipolar disorder and drug abuse have been suggested as an explanation for much of her unusual behaviour.
And while Masked Singer fans branded her a “diva”, host Joel saw the amusing side, commenting: “She’s absolutely incredible, and she’s got such a good voice, but I never have witnessed anything more funny than a person dressed as a six-foot toad storming off angrily.
“It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Macy has certainly had her fair share of troubles which were far more vexing than being the third person to be voted off the primetime TV contest.
Her biological father Otis Jones left when she was a baby, and Macy has claimed that a “lot of my mother’s side of the family are gangsters”.
Born Natalie McIntyre in small-town Canton, Ohio, her stepfather Richard McIntyre was a steel worker and mother Laura a maths teacher.
I never have witnessed anything more funny than a person dressed as a six-foot toad storming off angrily
Joel Dommett
It was a strict upbringing, with Macy once alleging about her mum: “When I was younger I knew her as the person who gave me spankings and made me feel awful, but now I see her as such an awesome person.”
She rebelled, being asked to leave one school for “getting into a lot of trouble”, and she was later jailed for less than a week for stealing petrol.
Macy didn’t consider a music career until she was in her early 20s because “I always had a kind of funny voice and it never occurred to me that I could sing”.
She took the stage name Macy Gray after seeing it on a mail box and started to perform in jazz bands.
Working as a hostess at late-night Hollywood club We Ours, which was frequented by big-name acts, slowly helped her get recognised.
After a record deal which she signed with Atlantic in 1994 ended without an album even being released, she joined Epic Records in 1998 and released her debut album On How Life Is the following year.
Rushed out shoeless
The global smash sold seven million copies worldwide and 1.2 million of them in the UK — a remarkable achievement for a then 33-year-old divorced mother of three.
That success saw Macy scoop two Brit Awards in 2000 and when she followed that up with a Grammy in 2001 for Best Female Pop Vocal performance — beating megastars Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — it seemed that she was going to go on to even bigger things.
But there were early signs that having waited so long for fame, she was going to struggle to handle it.
Macy was booed at an American football game in the summer of 2001 when she forgot the words to the national anthem.
She said: “I was in my home town and all my relatives were there and it just flew out of my head. I skipped the entire first section.”
The same year, Macy got into a row with Snowdon during a photo shoot for Vogue magazine. She arrived late, rushed out shoeless, got in a car and drove into London.
Snowdon, who died in 2017, described Macy as the most difficult person he had worked with in 55 years as a photographer, but she claimed he had acted in a racist way.
Other bizarre behaviour included nicking items from hotels, including a painting.
Her second album The Id topped the charts in the UK, and she made her movie debut in Training Day alongside Denzel Washington.
‘Totally blindsided’
But her third album, the appropriately titled The Trouble With Being Myself, flopped in 2003.
Macy admitted: “I’d been doing a lot of indulging in excess of everything and it started catching up with me around that album.”
That included taking drugs, with her boasting about getting “out of” her “mind.”
There were tales of diva-like behaviour — and Macy admitted that she “had developed a really huge ego” after “being treated like a queen.” What she doesn’t lack is confidence.
She has a naked bronze statue of herself in her garage and has confessed to running naked down to reception in hotels.
In 2013, Macy claimed that she “cured” her bipolar disorder “just by pure will.”
Macy was gutted to be out so early because she really enjoyed being on the US version — where she did brilliantly — so was totally blindsided
Insider
She quit music for four years, returning with the album Big in 2007, which performed even worse than its predecessor in the charts. After that, like many fading stars, she tried her hand at celebrity TV.
In 2009 she appeared on Dancing With The Stars but there were fears she might not even appear when she failed to turn up for rehearsals.
Macy said in her defence: “I was on tour in Europe and a couple of times we had to cancel because we didn’t have time.”
Her lack of preparation showed when she was the second to be voted off. But on the US version of The Masked Singer in 2023, she managed to finish a very respectable fourth after appearing in the final as Sea Queen.
And a source told The Sun that was the reason she was so upset about going out so early in the British series.
The insider said: “Macy was gutted to be out so early because she really enjoyed being on the US version — where she did brilliantly — so was totally blindsided.
“It was the shock of it for her as well. The upset in that moment provoked a very raw, human reaction and she wanted out.
“For a professional performer to reach that point shows how badly she felt.”
It was perhaps tough for a brilliant vocalist like Macy to go when lesser performers were left in.
The singer could not be talked into appearing on ITVX spin-off show The After Mask, where performers are usually quizzed after being voted off.
Instead, host Harriet Rose had to interview the show’s vocal coach.
As Joel noted, diplomatically, Macy could have been the victim of her global success.
Sometimes, like the case with Macy Gray, she has such a recognisable voice and she’s a legend so you immediately know who it is
Joel Dommett
He said afterwards: “If you’re a great singer and you make it through then that’s absolutely wonderful.
“But sometimes, like the case with Macy Gray, she has such a recognisable voice and she’s a legend so you immediately know who it is.”
Certainly, no one will forget her now.