Kelsea Ballerini nearly took a trip to The White Lotus. After telling Variety recently that she's "auditioned for a lot of things and not gotten them," the Grammy-nominated performer revealed to PEOPLE at the Variety Power of Women Nashville event on May 1 that she tried out for the role of Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge)'s assistant Portia on season 2 of the hit HBO series, which Haley Lu Richardson eventually landed. “I have no shame in my game!"

Ballerini, 31, told PEOPLE. "I auditioned for the second season of The White Lotus for the role [of] Jennifer Coolidge's assistant that Haley did.” She praised Richardson, 30, for acting “so brilliantly and beautifully” in the role, adding, “But yeah, I did audition for that. Fun fact."

Kelsea Ballerini in Nashville on May 1, 2025. Danielle Del Valle/Variety/Getty On season 2 of the Mike White-created series, Portia found herself caught up in the criminal underbelly of Sicily, where she was exploited, kidnapped and eventually dumped and sent back to the U.S. While Ballerini never made it to one of the show’s exotic locales, she made her acting debut in the Joshua Jackson-led series Doctor Odyssey.

She played a bridezilla, who planned to tie the knot aboard The Odyssey on the ABC medical drama. DOCTOR ODYSSEY. Disney/Tina Thorpe In October, the country singer revealed that making a foray into acting was fitting for the current era of her life.

She described acting as "one of the things that I was like, 'Run toward the things that scare you!' " in a cover story for Women's Health, though she admitted she'd worried, "What if I suck on TV?" "Then you know what I do?

I’ll go put on my glitter and go back onstage," Ballerini said. "That’s always going to be home base.” The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!

Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes in Nashville on May 1, 2025. Jason Kempin/Variety/Getty At the show’s premiere in September, Ballerini told PEOPLE she was "timid" ahead of her debut, as it marks her "first time ever trying the acting hat on." "I wasn't reserved on the fact that it was my first time,” she explained at the time.

“So I asked a lot of questions and I feel like I learned so much, and I really hope that I did the character and the show proud.” The Voice coach could turn to her boyfriend, Outer Banks star Chase Stokes if she had questions. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "I've always called acting his world, and so whenever I was asking him questions about this opportunity, I was like, 'What about this in your world?'

" she said. "And he was like, 'Hey, it's just a world. I'm a part of it and now you're a part of it.

It's not my world.' " She added, "By the end of the conversation, I was like, 'OK, so you'll run the scene with me?' And he was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.'

"