Opening up about the worst day of her life.
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 passed away.
In a new wide-ranging interview with Shawn Ryan that went nearly 5 HOURS long, Wynonna walked Shawn through her entire life, including everything she went through on the awful day. Shawn Ryan is a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor who now has one of the most-watched podcasts in the world, and at one point during the podcast, Shawn revealed that him and Wynonna got baptized together in the same lake on Easter Sunday, 2024.
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.
Wynonna knew something was wrong, but she could have never imagined what she was about to witness:
“Yes she did. She sure did. I got a phone call around 11 AM from our life coach saying I need for you to come to your mother’s right away. and I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t expect that. and I pulled up to the house, and it’s just like the movies.
All the cop cars, the ambulance, the lights, the caution tape and people are running about. And I looked at Lindsey and said, ‘Oh my God.’ Jumped out of the car, I’ve never run that fast. I almost fainted cause I couldn’t quite catch my breath. And I ran upstairs, and they tried to hold me back, and I got past a couple of them because I was in such panic.
And there she was laying on the floor. And they were doing the breathing, and the CPR, and there I sit watching. Ashley is the one who found her initially, but I came in while they were doing the CPR. So I got to see all the activity, and they put her on the stretcher and they took her out to the ambulance and took off, and I followed.”
When they got to the hospital, they waited for about an hour, before some random man Wynonna didn’t even know told her that her mom had passed:
“When we got to the hospital, obviously they took her somewhere and I had to wait for almost an hour, I think, close to it. And I walked into a room to get something to drink, and Ashley was sitting there, and she had her group of people around her.
And I had my back facing her at one point, and a guy walked in the room and said, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’ And I whipped around, and I looked at him, and I said, ‘Excuse me?’ And he looked at me like, oh my God, she doesn’t know. And he said, ‘I’m so sorry.'”
When she finally got back to the room to see her mother, Wynonna says it was obviously very graphic, and all she did was kiss her mom on the forehead and tell her that she loved her. Then, she had to go to the police station to be interrogated as is standard procedure in these types of circumstances.
She also told Ryan that her son was part of the “cleanup team” at his grandmother’s house, which is just crazy, and Wynonna explained that it’s still hard for her to believe that all of that happened:
“And they finally took us back to a room in the hospital, and she was laying there. And Ashley went to her feet, and I went to her upper body, and I saw everything, graphic, you know, visuals. And couldn’t believe it, I’m in shock and denial, of course.
And I closed her eyes, and I kissed her on her forehead and I said, ‘I love you, mom.’ And I left. And then they took me to the police station and interrogated me about the murder possibility, and I’m sitting there going, this is just like in the movies. They did everybody, you’re a suspect until they rule it out. You don’t realize some of this, but that’s what happens.
And my son was on the clean up team, so he’s had his share of the trauma, of course. It’s just hard to believe, honestly, Shawn. It’s hard to believe that this stuff can happen to you. It happens to other people, it happens in the movies, but it doesn’t happen to you.”
Wynonna still showed up at her Country Music Hall of Fame induction the day after her mother passed, and she gave a really fascinating reason as to why.
Wynonna was not going to “miss out on [her] destiny,” and she summed it up by saying that “you gotta show up if you want your miracle”:
“I went home, went to bed. Got up the next morning, and showed up to the Country Music Hall of Fame to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. I was not gonna miss out on my destiny. That’s the only thing that kept me going, and I did it. I showed up.
And that’s what you gotta do, regardless of the situation. You gotta show up if you want your miracle.”
Wynonna has been through so much, she talked a lot about her childhood and very rough upbringing, and there’s so much to learn about what shaped her into the country music icon she is and she really is an incredible woman.
The full interview is available below, and it’s a really great conversation:
