Toby Keith Admits He Resisted Recent Forbes Magazine Cover
There are many reasons Toby Keith resisted the photo shoot and interview for Forbes Magazine's Celebrity 100 issue, but mostly the singer just didn't want to do it. The 'Drinks After Work' singer says his publicist made him.
The project required allowing a Forbes journalist to follow Keith around for a few days. “First of all, it’s like pulling teeth to get me to do photo shoots," the star tells the Oklahoman. "And I don’t mind doing interviews if they’re by phone, but I hate to go sit down and have to meet somebody somewhere, you know what I mean."
The nature of this particular interview further rankled Keith. He doesn't like talking about his money and success, which includes a line of mezcal, a restaurant chain, partial ownership of Big Machine Records and heading Show Dog-Universal, in addition to his songwriting and performance earnings. The cover of the Forbes issue referred to him as "country music's $500 million man."
"I play golf with my shirttail out," Keith says. "I own a golf course because it’s very, very close to my house, and I don’t want to drive 45 minutes to the north side of Oklahoma City to play golf every day."
Other investments (like his race horses) serve the singer's interests and hobbies. He says he's not comfortable with people asking him about his finances, but his publicist said it was a huge honor.
Score one win for Keith on the cover photo, however. Sure, he's wearing a clean, crisp black jacket and grinning like tooth-whitener model, but "I still had jeans on," he says.