The 54-year-old actress then revealed her mom’s cause of death: a self-inflicted firearm wound as New York Post reports
“Once I say it, it cannot be unsaid,” she began through tears. “She used a weapon … my mother used a firearm. So that’s the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing, but understand that we’re in a position that if we don’t say it, someone else is going to.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame will induct Ray Charles and The Judds into its ranks on Sunday night, though the death of Naomi Judd a day earlier will undoubtedly alter the normally celebratory ceremony. (Theglobeandmail)
“I went upstairs to let her know that her good friend was there, and I discovered her. I have both grief and trauma from discovering her.”
“Our mother couldn’t hang on until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers,” she added. “That is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her, because the barrier between the regard in which they held her couldn’t penetrate into her heart, and the lie the disease told her was so convincing.”
Much of the attention Sunday will likely be on Naomi Judd, who died unexpectedly on Saturday near Nashville.
“We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” daughters Wynonna and Ashley said in a statement to The Associated Press announcing her death. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public.”
Mother-daughter act Naomi and Wynonna Judd were among the most popular duos of the 1980s, scoring 14 No. 1 hits during their nearly three-decade career.
'Naomi overcame incredible adversity on her way to a significant place in music history. Her triumphant life story overshadows today's tragic news.'
In the end he added, 'Naomi and daughter Wynonna's music will endure.'
The other inductees tomorrow are Eddie Bayers, who played on many of the Judds' records, Ray Charles and Pete Drake. The public red carpet arrivals for the event have been canceled.
In a statement via Billboard, a representative for the Country Music Hall of Fame stated that Wynonna Judd, 57, is 'expected to attend the ceremony', hours after Saturday's earlier announcement that her mother had died due to mental illness.
Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum added, 'Her family has asked that we continue with The Judds' official Hall of Fame induction on Sunday. We will do so, with heavy hearts and weighted minds.'
