Wynonna Judd is sharing her complex feelings following mom Naomi Judd‘s death.
The music legend sat down with CBS Sunday Morning to discuss how she’s doing since the Judd matriarch died in April. According to Wynonna, who performed with Naomi as the country duo the Judds, she’s “incredibly angry” at the circumstances of her mother’s death.
The country singer, 58, shared how she learned of Naomi’s death.
“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,” Judd told CBS. “And next thing I know, I’m sitting here on the side porch, and I’m just trying to figure out what’s next.”
While Judd was well aware that her mother struggled with mental illness, she explained that she didn’t realize Naomi was experiencing thoughts of suicide.
“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,” said Judd. “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.”
Wynonna and her sister, actress Ashley Judd, announced the sudden news of their mother’s death at age 76 back in April. In a statement, they wrote ,“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”
Judd told CBS that she still feels her mother’s presence.
“I do. I do. I feel her nudging me. And sometimes, I laugh,” she shared. “And sometimes, I say, ‘I really miss you. Why aren’t you here so we can argue?'”
The Judds rose to country music stardom together, but faced a challenging relationship.
“We were incredibly close,” said Wynonna, “and then she’d get mad at me: Why do you do that? And then we’d, you know, not get along and be disconnected, and we’d come back together and hug and cry. It was incredibly complicated. We tried really hard. And those are the tears, because I know that we tried. And we did pretty damn good — most of the time!”
It was when they performed that mother and daughter truly felt in sync, she noted.
“There’s nothing like family harmony,” Wynonna explained. “And sometimes the only harmony we had was in music.”
While their relationship was complicated, Naomi was able to express her love for her daughter.
“She told me one time, she took my hand and she said, ‘My life is better because of you.’ 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,” said Judd. “It just doesn’t.”
