Songfacts®:

• Kellie Pickler had a difficult upbringing; she was abandoned by her mother, and her alcoholic father was in and out of jail, so she was raised by her paternal grandparents. This The Woman I Am cut finds her getting closure on her hurtful past. "I love this song because there's so much closure and healing [in it]," Pickler said. "I think there's so much grace in the words 'I forgive you.' I think people are really going to identify with that and I hope that song helps a lot of people."
• Pickler had had this Busbee, Hillary Lindsey, Aimee Mayo written tune on her radar for quite a while. "I had been wanting to cut that song since I moved to Nashville," she told Billboard magazine. "It finally found a place on this album. It was on hold for a bigger artist than me. I finally said 'I've got to cut this song,' and the writers said 'You can have it. Go ahead and do it."
  
  Pickler added that she feels many listeners will be able to identify with the lyrics. "I think that to forgive someone is such a powerful thing," she said. "We've all hurt people, and we've all been hurt. We all want to be forgiven, and we all need to forgive. It's a powerful message, and is written in such a universal way where you can put your story in the song."