Wynonna Judd said that her late mom, Naomi Judd, talked about suicide non-stop before tragically taking her own life at age 76.
The country music legend died by suicide at her Tennessee home in 2022, but according to Wynonna, it was a topic that her mother talked about often.
“She talked about it a lot, even to her grandson who’s a deputy, about jumping off a bridge,” the 62-year-old said during a recent appearance on Anderson Cooper’s podcast.
“And she talked about it so much with me. I don’t know who else, besides [Wynonna’s sister] Ashley [Judd], but she talked about it a lot. And I think I got to the point where, ‘No, no. You’re not gonna do that. You have too much to live for,’” she said.
Naomi died one day before she and Naomi were set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Naomi also shared daughter Ashleywith ex Michael C. Ciminella. Wynonna’s biological father is Charles Jordan, but she was primarily raised by Ciminella, who was married to her mother from 1964 to 1972.
Wynonna admitted to Cooper that she couldn’t remember the first time that her mom started to talk about suicide because it was something that occurred often, adding that Naomi often watched TV shows with similar themes.
“I just remember thinking, ‘What is she doing? I don’t understand,’” Wynonna told Cooper. “And she’d call me and say, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’ And I’d go over and spend the night with her. And it was awful. It was really awful. She was really struggling in the end.”
The “Mama He’s Crazy” hitmaker died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The toxicology report, obtained by Page Sixat the time, revealed that the musician had several different drugs in her system when she died, including medications used to treat insomnia and seizures.
Before her death, Naomi had been quite open about her struggles with mental health.
During a 2016 interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, she opened up about her battle with “life-threatening depression.”
She revealed that she had begun to experience severe depression in 2010, and had been to the psychiatric ward several times.
“They think, because they see me in rhinestones, you know, with glitter in my hair, that really is who I am,” Naomi told Roberts of her fans. “I’m sort of a fantasy ’cause I want to provide that for them.”
“But then I would come home and not leave the house for three weeks and not get outta my pajamas, not practice normal hygiene,” she added. “It was really bad.”
While speaking with Roberts, Naomi also shared that part of her depression treatment was to tackle a difficult past, which included sexual abuse that started at the age of three.
She also said that she and her daughter had been to therapy together.
“From the day I knew she existed, it was the two of us against the world and then through the decades we kind of grew up together, ’cause it was really just the two of us,” Naomi said at the time. “And I’m always tellin’ her, ‘If I’d known better, I would have done better.’”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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