Getty Wynonna Judd (R) and Naomi Judd perform together
Country star and “Dancing With the Stars” alum Wynonna Judd opened up to “CBS Sunday Morning” on Sunday, September 25 about losing her mother, Naomi Judd, who died by suicide on April 30, 2022.
Wynonna Said It’s ‘So Confusing’ Because Her Mother Had Great Days Sometimes
“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”
In the interview with Lee Cowan of “CBS Sunday Morning,” which is Wynonna’s first TV interview since losing her mother, the country star was visibly emotional as she talked about how she did not know her mother was in such a bad place before she died.
“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. That’s the challenge with mental illness. It’s really, really mysterious 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. That’s why it’s such a shock,” said Wynonna.
Cowan responded by saying that mental illness is “such a cruel disease,” which Wynonna agreed with.
“It is and people think it’s a character flaw and they don’t know that it’s this incredibly dark and light experience. She had incredibly great days in the middle of the dark days, that’s why it’s so confusing,” said the singer.
Cowan asked Wynonna if her upcoming tour is going to be therapeutic for her healing process and she said she honestly doesn’t know yet.
“I have no idea. I swear to god, I don’t know if this time it’s therapy,” said the singer. “I think it’s important to do it, if that makes sense. I feel like I have my marching orders and I know what they are and I’m going to show up. I don’t know if it’s going to be therapy. I’ll tell you in November. I’ll literally tell you in November, ‘That was the most experience of my life’ or ‘That was a s*** show’ because I’m going to give every single thing I have.”
Wynonna had been set to tour with her mother before her mother’s death. She announced during her mother’s televised memorial on CMT, “Naomi Judd: A River of Time Celebration,” that she would keep the tour dates in her mother’s honor.
Over the years, Naomi Judd had been candid about her mental health struggles, telling “Today” in a 2017 interview that she was “dangerously depressed” for two years.
“I didn’t get off my couch for two years,” said Naomi. “I was so depressed that I couldn’t move … My husband (Larry Strickland) and my girlfriends and Ashley would come over and I would just go upstairs and lock the door to my bedroom … You become immobilized.”
She added, “We don’t make enough of the good neurochemicals in the brain. It’s a disease. It has nothing to do with our character … I was dangerously depressed.”
Wynonna Also Said Saying Goodbye Was So Hard
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. t.co/vcICJPc0o5
Wynonna also detailed the day it happened, saying she got the call about her mother and rushed to say goodbye to her in the hospital.
“I got the call, and I went over, and I saw her and that was that. I said goodbye to her in the hospital, and I closed her eyes, and I kissed her forehead and that was that. And the next thing I know, I’m sitting here on the front porch, on the side porch … you know, and I’m just tryin’ to figure out what’s next,” Judd tells Cowan.
The country star went on to say that she always tried to honor her mother and now that she’s gone, Wynonna has let go of any of the contention they had.
“I honored her as much as I could for as long as I could and she knows that. She told me one time, she said, I’ll never forget it, she took my hand and she said, ‘My life is better because of you,'” recalled Wynonna. “And that was a moment and those are the moments I’m thinking about in my head. I’m not as much thinking about the time when we blank. I’m thinking about the time that she said that becuase those are the memories that are starting to come through more and more. It hink when you lose your mother, a lot of that crap goes away becuase it doesn’t matter anymore. It just doesn’t.”
She also told Cowan that sometimes she feels her mom’s presence and it makes her miss her even more, saying, “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?’”
“Dancing With the Stars” airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific time on Disney Plus.
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