Wynonna Judd revealed that her late mother, Naomi Judd, didn’t shy away from the topic of death before her suicide.
“She talked about it a lot, even to her grandson who’s a deputy, about jumping off a bridge,” the “No One Else on Earth” singer, 62, said on a recent episode of the “All There Is With Anderson Cooper” podcast. “And she talked about it so much with me.”
Wynonna said that Naomi also discussed her thoughts on the subject with her younger sister, Ashley Judd, which prompted the siblings to remind their mom that she had “too much to live for.”
“She talked about it a lot,” the country artist added. “And I think I got to the point where [we were like], ‘No, no, no, no, no, no. You’re not gonna do that.’”
Naomi shared daughter Ashley, 58, with ex Michael C. Ciminella, to whom she was married from 1964 to 1972. Naomi welcomed daughter Wynonna with ex Charles Jordan four years before Ashley was born. Naomi was married to husband Larry Strickland from 1989 until her death.
Wynonna also noted that her mom would watch “those damn shows on TV about stuff like that.”
“I just remember thinking, ‘What is she doing? I don’t understand,’” Wynonna told host Anderson Cooper while reflecting on past times with Naomi. “And she’d call me and say, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’ And I’d go over and spend the night with her. And it was awful. It was really awful. She was really struggling in the end.”
Naomi and her eldest daughter, Wynonna, notably teamed up to form The Judds in 1980, and the duo went on to perform together for four decades.
The music world was rocked when news broke that Naomi died on April 30, 2022, in her home outside of Nashville. She was 76.
The day after Naomi died, she and Wynonna were set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Judds also had plans to embark on a farewell tour in September of that year.
A medical examiner later confirmed that Naomi died by suicide following a longtime battle with mental illness. An autopsy showed that she had medications used to treat insomnia and seizures and more in her system at the time of her death.
Following the release of her autopsy, the family released a statement. “We have always shared openly both the joys of being family as well [as] its sorrows, too,” Naomi’s loved ones said. “One part of our story is that our matriarch was dogged by an unfair foe. She was treated for PTSD and bipolar disorder, to which millions of Americans can relate.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
