It’s hard to believe it’s been just over a year since country music legend Naomi Judd passed away.
The iconic singer’s tragic death by suicide came as a shock to many, but perhaps no one suffered more than Naomi’s daughter, Wynonna.
To say that the two women shared a unique connection is an understatement. Not only was Naomi Wynnona’s mom, but also her bandmate in The Judds. The mother-daughter duo enjoyed incredible success within the country music scene, laying claim to numerous awards and delivering hit after hit.
Sadly, Naomi was forced to retire in 1991 due to health issues, though Wynonna went on to have a successful solo career in her own right.
At the weekend, the latter accepted the Country Champion Award at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, and revealed heartbreaking details about her mother’s death.
“So I graduated high school in 1982,” Wynonna began upon receiving the award. “In 1983, I got a record deal with RCA Records, and I got on a Silver Eagle bus with my mama and did her hair every night for 10 years for free.”
She went on: “And then on August the 30th of last year, my mother committed suicide, and I went to her house and she died there, but we followed the ambulance anyway to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. I walked into the room and I held her in my arms, I kissed her on the forehead, shut her eyes and said, ‘I love you, Mom.’
“And I walked out of that room, went home, got up the next morning and showed up at the Country Music Hall of Fame to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
Indeed, an especially tragic aspect relating to the timing of Naomi’s death, was that The Judds were due to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame the very next day.
At the time, Wynnona’s younger sister Ashley tearfully told the audience: “I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today.”
“I didn’t prepare anything tonight because I knew mom would probably talk the most,” Wynonna added. “I’m gonna make this fast, because my heart’s broken, and I feel so blessed. It’s a very strange dynamic, to be this broken and this blessed.”
Concluding her acceptance speech for the Country Champion Award at the weekend, Wynonna finished with: “Let me tell you something, it’s getting harder and harder out there. Never give up on your dreams. And for half of y’all in this place tonight – I know you don’t know who I am or you were not born when I had my years of being fabulous, and I’ll let that go.”
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