Wynonna Judd’s life of tragedy, triumph: mom Naomi’s suicide, 2023 CMA Awards, more

Wynonna Judd has had an eclectic country music career both on the solo front, and as a part of the duo The Judds, alongside her late mom Naomi Judd.

However, the “Rock Bottom” singer, 59, has had a series of wild ups and downs throughout her life.

Most recently, Wynonna turned heads and raised eyebrows with her “bizarre” CMA 2023 Awards performance on Wednesday evening while onstage with new artist of the year winner Jelly Roll for a duet of his hit “Need a Favor.”

Judd’s unsteadiness during the song prompted worried fans to label it as seriously “wrong” and she seemed to be off-balance for most of the time.

She then responded on Nov. 9 and addressed her weird appearance, citing on social media that she was just “so freaking nervous.”

The crooner continued: “I got out there and I looked at Jelly Roll. I wanted it to be so good for him. I could cry right now, but I’m not going to because I’m such a fan of his.”

“He asked me to sing and I said, ‘Absolutely!’ I got out there and I was so nervous that I just held on for dear life. And that’s the bottom line,” she confessed.

Keep reading to learn more about Wynonna’s highs and lows through the years.

Wynonna’s daughter is sentenced to jail

Wynonna’s daughter Grace Pauline Kelley was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2018 for violating her probation.

Kelley pleaded guilty in May 2017 for cooking and selling meth. She had been in and out of prison for drug-related charges since 2016.

She was then released from prison six years early, in 2019.

Naomi Judd’s 2022 death

Naomi shocked the world when she committed suicide last April. She suffered from mental health issues for most of her life and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“There is so much happening in the world right now. So before I sat down to write this, I thought, ‘No … I just don’t know what to say.’ Then, I heard the words from my life coach asking me, ‘What do you know?’ And I began to cry,” Wynonna wrote on Instagram shortly after her mom passed.

“WHAT DO I KNOW?? I DO know, that the pain of losing Mom on 4/30 to suicide is so great, that I often feel like I’m not ever going to be able to fully accept and surrender to the truth that she left the way she did. This cannot be how The Judds story ends,” she continued.

The Country Music Hall of Fame honor

The Judds earned a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame just a day after Naomi’s death.

Wynonna and her sister Ashley Judd broke down in tears at the induction and paid tribute to their mom.

“I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today,” Ashley, 55, told to the crowd while crying at the ceremony. “Though my heart is broken I will continue to sing,” Wynonna sobbed.

Wynonna appears at the CMA Fest

Just months after Naomi’s passing, Wynonna made a surprise CMA Fest performance where she sang her heart out to honor her late mom.

She joined Carly Pearce on stage last June at the music festival in Nashville for a sweet duet of The Judds’ “Why Not Me,” stirring emotions and heartfelt cries from the audience.

“CMA Fest, we lost one of our absolute pillars in country music earlier this year: Miss Naomi Judd,” Carly said onstage, The Tennessean reported.

“As a girl growing up in Kentucky, I idolized The Judds and wanted to be like them. My first concert was to see Wynonna,” she went on, “and I’ve always loved all of the music that The Judds made and feel like it is such a representation of the best of country music.”

Naomi’s will

It was reported in August 2022 that Wynonna and Ashley were left out of their mom’s will.

Naomi appointed her husband of 33 years, Larry Strickland, as the executor of her estate instead of her daughters.

The will was drawn up on Nov. 20, 2017, almost five years before she died.

Naomi’s suicide note

In January, the icon’s suicide note was found and it banned Wynonna from attending her funeral.

“Do not let Wy come to my funeral. She’s mentally ill,” Naomi penned on a yellow Post-It note, underlining the word “not.”

However, Wynonna did, in fact, attend the funeral last year. 

The Final Tour

Despite her grief, Wynonna continued on with the final Judds tour after her mom’s death to carry on her legacy.

The concert helped her overcome her sadness, trauma and aided in her healing

“I have to admit, I’ve had an incredible, incredible opportunity to heal through all of this, to cry and to say things onstage that I’ll never say again,” she told the Hollywood Reporter earlier this year.

“This is a whole other level of deep, and I wasn’t expecting it,” the singer-songwriter continued. “I knew it would be intense but this is literally, ‘Oh, my Lord.’ This is me with a broken heart being as open as I’ll probably ever be, and other people are responding to that in a way that I wasn’t expecting.”

Musical Accomplishments

Wnyonna has had 19 No. 1 singles over the course of her career with both Naomi and through her solo endeavors, including songs “She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light”, and “No One Else on Earth.”

Between 1983 and 1991, The Judds had 23 singles top the Billboard Hot Country Singles and earned five Grammy nominations.

Wynonna was honored with a star on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville in 2007.

2023 CMA Awards

Wynonna appeared unsteady while joining country newcomer Jelly Roll for a duet of his hit “Need a Favor,” to open the show.

Fans instantly reacted on the social media platform X.

“It was seriously bizarre,” one fan admitted. “I wonder what’s going on? She barely moved once she got a death grip on him.”

“Wynonna Judd is holding on to Jelly Roll for dear life #CMAawards,” another declared.

“Something is wrong with her,” a third fan echoed. “Hope she is ok!!”

But the singer came “clean” hours later and blamed the whole debacle on a serious case of the jitters.

“I’m just gonna come clean with y’all. I was so freaking nervous,” she said on a video posted on Instagram. “I got out there and I looked at Jelly Roll. I wanted it to be so good for him. I could cry right now, but I’m not going to because I’m such a fan of his and he asked me to sing and I said, ‘Absolutely!’ I got out there and I was so nervous that I just held on for dear life. And that’s the bottom line. All is well.”