Wynonna Judd opens up about Naomi Judd's death and daughter's addiction - USA Today

Wynonna Judd is turning a lifetime of private pain into music.

The country singer reflected on the death of her mother and longtime musical partner, Naomi Judd, her estranged daughter Grace Kelley's struggles with addiction and her experience raising her granddaughter in an exclusive interview with People⁠ published Sept. 30.  

The revelations come ahead of Judd's new album, "The Hard Truth," her first in a decade. The 62-year-old co-wrote nine of its 10 tracks with her husband, musician and producer Cactus Moser.

"I feel like this is the most honest and vulnerable I've ever been," Judd told the outlet. "It's there for everyone to hear. So there are some days I think, 'Oh my God, what have I done?' And then other days I think, 'There comes a point in your life when you are ready to tell your testimony.'"

Earlier this month, Judd performed for several hundred fans during AmericanaFest at Nashville's Basement East. "She's a survivor," attendee Roger Hampton told The Nashville Tennessean⁠, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The album (available Friday, Oct. 2) explores Judd's complicated family relationships, including secrets she said she carried for years and the questions left unanswered by her mother's death.

Naomi Judd, who performed with Wynonna Judd as the Grammy-winning country duo The Judds, died by suicide in April 2022⁠ after a public battle with mental illness. She was 76.

Wynonna Judd told People that she had spent years keeping the severity of her mother's depression private.

"There was a tremendous amount of love there; a lot of drama but a lot of love as well. It was definitely a paradox," she said. Some of that emotional complexity appears throughout the new album. "My mother had an illness, she had a disease. I kept the secret, and I was devastated by that."

The new interview echoes feelings Wynonna Judd shared months after Naomi Judd's death. During her first television interview following the loss⁠, Wynonna Judd said she was "incredibly angry" that she had been unable to help her mother.

Wynonna Judd and her sister, actor Ashley Judd, accepted The Judds' induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame⁠ one day after Naomi Judd's death. Ashley Judd later publicly disclosed her mother's cause of death⁠.

She also explores the pain of learning at age 30 that Charles Jordan, not Michael Ciminella, was her biological father. Naomi Judd had kept the truth from her for decades, and Jordan died in 2000 before Wynonna Judd could meet him, she said.

The revelation came out during a family therapy session, Wynonna Judd told the outlet.

"I just remember going through such a depression about it: 'I have everything, and here I am, not knowing who my birth father is,'" she said. "She was very much in love with him, and they were just too young. … She got pregnant, and that's that. Back in 1963 that just didn't happen without there being consequences that were intense."

She said she has worked to forgive her mother but continues to feel anger over the secrecy. "I have forgiven her as much as possible. You don't forget. But I've wondered a million times why she didn't tell me. I carry a great deal of anger about that at times," Wynonna Judd said. 

"I think it would be very painful for her. Very painful. But I also know that she knows me, that I'm so honest and so up-front," Wynonna Judd said when reflecting on how her mother would receive the album if she was still alive to hear it.

"The Hard Truth" also addresses Wynonna Judd's relationship with her 30-year-old daughter, Grace Kelley, who has struggled with addiction and experienced several legal problems.

People reported that Kelley is serving a 15-month sentence in Virginia after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license following an October arrest. Judd said her daughter stopped communicating with her about a year ago.

"I miss her desperately," Judd said.

Kelley has previously been arrested on charges involving methamphetamine possession, probation violations and lewd conduct. In April 2024, she was arrested in Alabama on charges of indecent exposure and obstructing governmental operations⁠.

Judd said she hopes her daughter will "find healing" but also wants her to "quit blaming me."

"She's 30. There comes a point when you can't blame anymore. You have to take a look at yourself," Judd told the publication.

Judd and her husband are raising Kelley's 4-year-old daughter, Kaliyah, whom Judd adopted.

The singer said she learned along with the public that Kelley was pregnant with another child and had unsuccessfully sought a temporary release from jail to give birth outside the facility.

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call 988 any time day or night, or chat online. Crisis Text Line also provides free, 24/7, confidential support via text message to people in crisis when they dial 741741.