This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
Wynonna Judd shared the last words she told her mother, Naomi Judd, before Naomi’s death from suicide in 2022.
“The last thing I said to her was ‘I love you,’ and I’m so grateful for that,” Wynonna said in an interview with People.
The mother and daughter country music powerhouse duo performed «Love Can Build A Bridge» at the CMT Awards in April of 2022. That would be the last time Wynonna saw Naomi.
Naomi died by suicide at age 76 on April 30, one day before The Judds, the hit country music duo she performed in with Wynonna, were set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Wynonna described her mother as being “always so determined. No matter what happened to her.”
“Being fired. Being forgotten. A single white female raising two babies by herself. On welfare and food stamps. She never gave up,” Wynonna said. “So think about that and apply it to every part of life, including death. With the same determination she had to live, she was determined to die. It’s so hard to comprehend how someone can be so strong and yet so vulnerable.”
Wynonna said she didn’t know if she’d every be able to understand her mother’s death.
«I can’t quite wrap my head around it and I don’t know that I ever will. That she left the way she did,» Wynonna told People. «That’s how baffling and cunning mental illness is. You have to make peace with the fact that you don’t know. Sometimes there are no answers.»
Wynonna said that she feels guilt about having spent so much time away from her mom. The singer said she and her mother were «disconnected» in part due to Wynonna’s touring schedule with husband Cactus Moser.
«It was incredibly painful for [my mom] because her favorite place to be was on the road and to be with me and [my sister] Ashley,» she said. «She was by herself a lot. And so we were disconnected. One of my regrets is that I was so busy. She often talked about how lonesome it is in that house without us.»
«I’ve accepted it as much as I possibly, humanly can,» Wynonna continued. «Acceptance and then surrender, and what comes after is finding meaning.»
Wynonna announced to fans during a celebration of her mother’s life in May 2022 she would be continuing on with their tour — without her mother, as originally planned.
«So, I made a decision and I thought I’d share it on national television. That after a lot of thought, I’m going to have to honor her and do this tour. I’m just going to have to,» she said. «Because that’s what you would want, and Bono once told me give them what they want, not what you want.»
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
