Wynonna Judd Still Talks to Late Mother Naomi Judd When Performing

Wynonna Judd has admitted she still talks to her mother Naomi Judd while performing on stage two years after her tragic death. 

Naomi died on April 30, 2022, at age 76 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The country music star opened up about feeling close to her mother during an interview with Us Weekly published Tuesday.

"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?'" she said.

Wynonna, 60, shared that she felt closest to Naomi when on stage or spending time with Kaliyah, her 2-year-old granddaughter. Kaliyah's mother Grace Kelley, who is Wynonna's daughter, has faced legal challenges.

"She [Kaliyah] carries a picture of Mama around and a picture of her and her mom," Judd said. "I talk to her about them and say, 'They love you very much.'"

In a police report cited by the Daily Mail last year, an officer wrote that Naomi's husband, Larry Strickland, was traveling in Europe at the time of her death. 

"She threatened to kill herself a half a dozen times; guns were involved," the report read, according to the Daily Mail. "She locked herself in her bedroom. She would threaten to shoot the people who took her (illegible)."

The report also confirmed that Ashley Judd discovered Naomi in bed with a gunshot wound to the head and called an ambulance. 

In April, Ashley said Naomi fought an "untreated and undiagnosed mental illness" for years before she died. The actor spoke about her mother's story while promoting the Biden administration's recently formed National Strategy for Suicide Prevention at the White House.

"I'm here because I am my beloved mother's daughter and on the day she died, which will be the two-year anniversary in one week, the disease of mental illness was lying to her and with great terror convinced her that it would never get better," Judd shared during an address to the panel, according to People.

She went on to explain that Naomi Judd had been a "survivor of childhood and adult male sexual violence" and was fighting an unseen disease.

"She also lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and stole from her and it stole from our family, and she deserved better," Ashley Judd explained.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

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