Wynonna Judd "sees angels" and speaks to her late mom Naomi Judd whenever she's on stage.
Wynonna Judd feels her mother's presence all the time and speaks to her on stage
The musician - who was best known for appearing alongside her daughter as part of 1980s singing duo The Judds - died by suicide in April 2022 at the age of 76 after years of struggling with depression, and Wynonna has shared how she still feels her mother's presence.
Asked how she is coping with the loss, Wynonna told Us Weekly: "I’m in a really good place. I’ve worked on forgiveness and my anger and frustration with suicide. [At a fan club party] last night, everyone had on Judds T-shirts from the ’80s and ’90s. I thought, 'I have a choice. I can either be better or bitter.' My grief comes and goes. I see it as a gift in terms of the healing part."
The 60-year-old country star says she cries as often as she needs to.
She said: "Something will happen, and you start to cry and think, 'What’s wrong with me?' Then you realise there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s perfectly fine to cry. It’s important to embrace it and lean into it. I cry as much as I need to and when it’s time to be done, it will be."
Asked if she still talks to her late mother, she replied: "I do. On stage, I look up a lot because I see angels. Now I do it with Mom. I’m like, 'What the hell are you doing? Where are you and why are you not here? And why are we not singing together again?'"
Wynonna has been looking after the two-year-old daughter of her troubled daughter, Grace Kelley, 27, Kaliyah, and she's been helping her heal.
Quizzed on when she feels her mom is with her the most, she said: "When I’m on stage. And when I’m with Kaliyah. She carries a picture of Mama around and a picture of her and her mom. I talk to her about them and say, 'They love you very much.'"
Wynonna says "music has always been a safety" net, especially when she herself was feeling suicidal.
Asked how her relationship with music has changed since losing her mother and bandmate, she said: "Music has always been a safety. I went through a lot in my teens. I’ve gone from not wanting to live and attempting [suicide] and to being on stage 25 years later and now almost 50 years…"
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