Kyle Jacobs, country music songwriter and the husband of former “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler, 36, has died from an apparent suicide. He was 49.
Metropolitan Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron confirmed to The Post that police responded to a 911 call from the couple’s home Friday afternoon and found Jacobs dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an upstairs bedroom/office space.
His death is being investigated as a suicide, police say.
Aaron added that Pickler reported that she woke up and could not immediately find her husband. She and her personal assistant were unable to open the door to the room where Jacobs was found, so the assistant called 911.
The Post has contacted reps for Pickler for comment.
Born on June 26, 1973, Jacobs was raised in Minnesota. He co-wrote Garth Brooks’ 2007 No. 1 hit “More Than A Memory.” He also helped pen “Still” by Tim McGraw and “Dust” by the Eli Young Band.
His songs have been recorded by the likes of Pickler, George Strait, Kelly Clarkson, Thompson Square, and Jo Dee Messina, to name a few.
Pickler, meanwhile, rose to fame in 2006 on the fifth season of “American Idol,” where she placed sixth.
Her success followed a troubled childhood. She alleged to Us Weekly in 2006 that her mother handed her a kitchen knife and told her to commit suicide.
“I remember my mother and I were in the kitchen, and I said, ‘I wish God would take me away, I’d much rather be dead than live here with you.’ She took a knife out, set it on the counter, and said, ‘Here, do it then.’ I was in fourth grade. Of course, I would never have acted upon it, but it’s done a lot of emotional scarring.”
Jacobs and Pickler met through mutual songwriter friends at a Nashville bar in 2007.
“So we ended up sitting with him and his buddies, and we got lost in conversation and everybody else disappeared,” she revealed on “The Real” in 2015.
They immediately started working on music together, collaborating on several songs on Pickler’s albums, “100 Proof” in 2012, and “The Woman I Am” in 2013. He is credited on tracks such as “Mother’s Day,” “The Woman I Am” and “Bonnie and Clyde.”
“I didn’t know someone like Kyle existed,” Pickler told People in 2008 of her then-boyfriend.
“He makes me feel so good about being me. I hadn’t seen the way a relationship should be. ”I’d never seen my mom and dad in the same room except in a courthouse. When I’m going through problems and saying, ‘I need a Xanax!’ Kyle says, ‘No, baby, let me be your pill.’ It’s so comforting.”
The couple eloped on Jan. 1, 2011, in Antigua. “Kyle and I originally planned this big, extravagant wedding, and at the very last minute, I looked at him, and I said, ’Baby, this ain’t us.’ And he said, ’Let’s just run away,’” Pickler recalled.
She went on to win “Dancing with the Stars” Season 16 with Derek Hough in 2013.
During the competition, Pickler and Hough danced the rumba to “Say I Do,” a song Jacobs wrote and performed for the show. “That song is my life, it’s our story,” Pickler said of the track before taking the floor.
Jacobs’ Twitter bio notes that he is “happily married to my best friend.” The couple’s reality show, “I Love Kellie Pickler,” ran for three seasons on CMT, from 2015 to 2017.
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“He makes me feel so, so great about myself. I feel so beautiful when I’m with him,” Pickler told The Boot in 2021. “He always tells me he likes me better with no makeup on and sweatpants. He makes me feel the most beautiful when I’m with him. As long as I’m healthy, then he is fine with whatever I wear.”
The country music world mourned Jacobs’ death Friday on social media.
“The Academy is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Kyle Jacobs, a talented Nashville songwriter & producer and the husband of Kellie Pickler. In 2014 Jacobs won an ACM Award as a producer of Lee Brice’s ‘I Drive Your Truck.’ Join us in sending condolences, love & healing,” tweeted the account for the Academy of Country Music Awards.
CMT, the network that aired the couple’s reality show, tweeted: “Our thoughts and prayers are with Kellie Pickler and the rest of the Jacobs family.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.