Jana Kramer credits 'The Masked Singer' for giving her more confidence.

The former 'One Tree Hill' actress was unmasked as the Royal Knight on Thursday's (28.11.24) episode of the singing competition series and she found being completely concealed by the audience helped her to relax and be herself in a way she can't when she is on stage performing her own songs.

She told Us Weekly magazine: "I feel like I allowed myself to have so much more fun being in a mask. I got to just go out there and truly just be me. I feel like a lot of times when I go out on stage -- I'm not a shy person, but I do get like, 'Oh, man, I wanna make sure I hit every note.'

"Which I don't ever hit every note, but I feel like I'm more insecure. But when I was out there doing 'The Masked Singer', it's like I felt so confident and I had fun. I think that's what I lacked when I go on stage other times."

Despite the secrecy surrounding appearing on 'The Masked Singer', the 40-year-old star - who has Jolie, eight, and five-year-old Jace with ex-husband Mike Caussin, and Roman, 12 months, with spouse Allan Russell - had told her children, and they almost blew her cover.

She said: "They were telling their friends at school, they were saying, 'Hey, you should really watch 'The Masked Singer'.

"And I was like, 'Jolie, you can't say that. You can't tell them that it's Mommy.' She was like, 'I'm not, Mommy! I'm just saying, 'You know, you should really watch it.' "

Jana was "thrilled" to be asked to take part but her husband was baffled as he had never seen 'The Masked Singer' before.

She said: "I was so thrilled when I got the text, I was sitting there with my husband on the couch.

"I just started screaming, and my husband's like, 'What?' And I'm like, 'I just got offered The Masked Singer.' And he's like, 'The what?' And I'm like, 'The Masked Singer. You don't know what that is?'"

The 'Friday Night Lights' star went on to show her 43-year-old spouse some clips from the programme - but he was even more baffled.

She said: "He's like, 'And you wanna do that?' And I'm like, 'Yes, I do. Like 1,000 percent!' He was confused … but I was so, so thrilled."

The 'Whine Down' podcaster didn't fool all of the other people she knew either.

She admitted: "My sister-in-law texted me last week and was like, 'When are you gonna tell us that you have an alter ego named the Royal Knight?'

"So they were slowly figuring it out, and most of the time I just played silly."