Wynonna Judd has finally opened up about the tragic death of her mother, Naomi Judd. The country music star, who rose to fame in the 80s alongside Naomi as part of the Grammy-winning duo The Judds, told CBS This Morning that she is “incredibly angry” after her mom passed away in April due to suicide. When asked if she thinks the negative feelings will go away, Wynonna replied, “No, I don’t think so, not for a while.”
"She had incredibly great days in the middle of the dark days."
Country superstar Wynonna Judd, in her first television interview since her mother Naomi took her own life, talks about grief, going back on tour, and more with Lee Cowan this "Sunday Morning" pic.twitter.com/EAMs8epkyH
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) September 22, 2022
Naomi had suffered a long battle with depression and mental illness, which she detailed in her 2016 memoir River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope. On April 30, Naomi sadly succumbed to the fight, dying by suicide from a gunshot wound to the head. Naomi’s younger daughter and Wynonna’s sister, Double Jeopardy actress Ashley, reportedly found her mother.
“I got the call, and I went over, and I saw her and I said goodbye to her in the hospital, and I closed her eyes, and I kissed her forehead, and that was that,” Wynonna revealed on the program. “And next thing I know, I’m sitting here on the side porch, and I’m just trying to figure out what’s next.”
She continued, “I did not know that she was at the place she was at when she ended it, because she had had episodes before and she got better. And that’s what I live in, is like, ‘Was there anything I should have looked for or should I have known?’ I didn’t.”
Mother Naomi and daughter Wynonna Judd were one of the most successful country music duos in history. In her first interview since the death of her mother, Wynonna talks with correspondent Lee Cowan about using music to keep grief at bay. https://t.co/vcICJPc0o5 pic.twitter.com/M2sU7ihSNv
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) September 24, 2022
Despite the hardship she is going through at the moment, Wynonna admitted she can feel her mother with her at times. “I do. I feel her nudging me. And sometimes, I laugh. And sometimes, I say, ‘I really miss you. Why aren’t you here so we can argue?'” she said, referencing their at-times tumultuous relationship.
However, the iconic mother/daughter pair appeared to reconcile before Naomi passed. “She told me one time, she took my hand and she said, ‘My life is better because of you,'” Wynonna explained. “Those are the memories that are starting to come through, more and more. I think when you lose your mother, a lot of that crap goes away, ’cause it doesn’t matter anymore. It just doesn’t.”