She’s truly an inspiring woman.
Wynonna Judd has been through a LOT in her personal life over the years, notably with her mother, Naomi, the other half of legendary country duo The Judds, who sadly died by suicide in April of 2022. The Judds were one of the most successful country duos of all time, signing with RCA Records in 1983. Naomi and Wynonna released six records between 1984, kicking things off with their debut record, Wynonna & Naomi, and ending their career with Love Can Build a Bridge.
Both were impressive vocalists with a ton of talent that meshed perfectly with the natural chemistry of being mother and daughter. While they certainly had their issues over the years, Wynonna loved her mother deeply and was obviously devastated when she tragically passed away due to suicide.
Wynonna just released her first album since 2016, The Hard Truth, which is a very personal project that details a lot about her relationship with her mom, her childhood, her struggles with her daughter, and so many other other hard things Wynonna has been through… it’s really the perfect album title for her journey.
Wynonna recalled getting a phone call around 11 AM from their life coach saying she needed to get to her mother’s house right that minute on the day she passed, and she went into the details about what transpired that day during a lengthy interview with Shawn Ryan which you can read about HERE.
In another conversation with ExtraTV’s Mona Kosar Abdi, Wynonna admitted that it understandably took her a while to open up about what happened with her mom specifically, because she never wanted to “complain or seem like a victim”:
“Because I want so badly to not complain or seem like a victim. I’ve worked really hard at being strong and I’ve kept secrets and I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Of course, that kind of tragedy is something most can only imagine, and she is FAR from being a victim… it’s incredibly strong and admirable that she’s sharing her painful story with the world, and Wynonna says she felt like it was finally time to open up after understandably being in a “really dark place” for a while:
“I felt like it was time for me to give my testimony. It was meant to be. After mom died, I went to a really dark place.”
Naomi suffered from sever depression for years, it’s something she spoke about publicly often, and it was Wynonna’s younger sister, Ashley, who found their mother on what Wynonna describes as “one of the worst days” of her life.
The next day, somehow Wynonna managed to find the strength to still show up at The Judd’s Country Music Hall of Fame induction:
“It was one of the worst days of my life. I found her on the floor after Ashley initially found her. And there was nothing I could do to save her. And I’ll never, I don’t think, get over that. And then the very next day I woke up and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and got inducted into the Hall of Fame.
I still don’t know how I did that. I guess that reminded me that no matter what happens in life, show up in whatever shape you’re in.”
When asked if Wynonna has managed find peace with the situation, she says she has, and even though it’s taken time, she’s learned how to “march through the storm”:
“I have peace now. It took me four years… suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It took me a minute to really start to go, ‘Okay, you’re not a victim, you’re a victor. Get out there and march through the storm.”
She of course wonders what life would be like if her mom was still here, saying the album is a “letter to her”:
“Well, it’s if she were here today, what would she think of the record? Would she want to harmonize on it? I feel like what happened to her is so devastating, and yet I love her with such a passion and it keeps me up at night… And I just feel so led again to sing this song to her. It was sort of a letter to her.”
Wynonna also explained that she and Ashley are “taking a break” right now as they continue to try and navigate through their own struggles, and she’s confident they’ll eventually come back together as better versions of themselves:
“We are on our own journeys separate. We’re taking a bit of a break. I think we’re both doing our own work. And I think that’s okay. I think people go, ‘Oh my god, what happened? Is there a rift?’ No, there’s not a rift. There’s just time that we took apart to go and do our own work so that when we come back together, we’re better, not bitter.”
On the album, Wynonna also talks about the tough relationship she’s had with her estranged daughter, Grace Kelly, who’s currently in prison in Virginia, and has battled addiction for years. Wynonna has tried everything to help her child, as any mother would, but she says she had to cut her daughter off monetarily because she was essentially paying for her daughter’s addiction, and they haven’t been on good terms since then, she says:
“She’s 30 and she can no longer blame me. And she’s really mad at me right now. And I know that. And it breaks my heart because I’m waiting for her to come back and be healed. And it’s taught me to let go of what I can and to not enable.
The money ran out because I said, ‘I can no longer pay for your addiction. I’m loving you to death’ and she’s mad at me. So, she doesn’t speak to me and I’m just waiting for it to turn… No, it’s not easy, but it’s her journey.”
I can’t even imagine how hard that has been for her, and hopefully the two of them can eventually reconcile and find peace in their relationship as mother and daughter too.
As for what Wynonna wants people to take from her music, she says she simply wants “people to get healed,” and that her ultimately goal is to even help just one person “choose life instead of suicide”:
“I want people to feel. I want people to get healed. I want them to be well. I want to help one person out there choose life instead of suicide. If I can do that, I’ve done my part, because I know who I am.”
It’s an admirable goal, Wynonna is an incredibly strong woman who had a tragic, yet ultimately inspiring, story, and the fact that she’s now sharing it all, the good, the bad and the ugly, with the world is just incredible.
Her song “Hear Me Now” is about her mom, and you can listen to it here:
“Hear Me Now”
The Hard Truth Tracklist
- “Prelude (All Downhill From Ashland)”
- “All Downhill From Ashland” (feat. The War And Treaty)
- “Everything” (feat. Patterson Hood)
- “Am I Missing Out”
- “Broken And Blessed”
- “Hear Me Now” (feat. Iron & Wine)
- “The Hopeful Lie” (feat. The War And Treaty)
- “Kentucky Queen”
- “Girl Who Could Sing”
- “Drive”
- “Love Ain’t Got The Best Of Me”
