LeAnn Rimes denies being drunk on ‘X Factor’

Credit: FOX

On part one of last night’s finale of The X Factor, LeAnn Rimes shared the stage with Carly Rose Sonenclar for a performance of “How Do I Live?” – a performance that raised more than a few eyebrows, Dwayne Johnson style.

Refuting claims that she was drunk, Rimes looks to rehabilitate her image, which has suffered considerable damage between her very public affair with actor Eddie Cibrian in 2009, and her recent 30-day stint in rehab in August of this year, for anxiety and stress. Unfortunately (well, depending on what you think of her), she does this by essentially putting it all on her duet partner. As Rimes explained to TMZ, “I was trying to help this 13-year-old girl who was having some trouble with the song.”

LeAnn believes Carly Rose Sonenclar was nervous and had difficulty hitting some of the notes, and Rimes claims she was simply doing her best to help the young singer through a rough patch.

LeAnn’s lawyer, Larry Stein, who spoke with Rimes about the fiasco, told TMZ that “LeAnn was not performing the way she would normally perform, because she was on stage with a young girl.” He adds that LeAnn doesn’t understand why people seem to think she was drunk, but Stein has a theory of his own: “There have been a lot of untrue things said by others and it feeds into this sort of thing.”

Earth-shattering theory, that.

Yet the plot thickens, as TMZ learned that Ms. Rimes served herself a plate of food backstage and promptly spilled it everywhere. Stein told TMZ he didn’t know anything about that, while LeAnn remains vehement that she was the very picture of sobriety.

Full story: TMZ

Hot Mess Express? Or misunderstood? You be the judge!