Wynonna Judd paid tribute to her late mother, Naomi Judd, at the 2023 CMT Awards.
While singing “I Want to Know What Your Love Is” with Ashley McBryde, the singer pointed to the sky and said, “Mom, you have to be here and I miss you, I love you and I don’t understand.” Sunday.
The 57th annual awards ceremony was extra emotional for Wynonna, as the 2022 show was the last public event Naomi attended before she died by suicide.
“It’s an anniversary and we all have anniversaries. “I’m not terribly unique backstage at Entertainment Tonight,” Wynonna, 58, said. “We all have something we look at and go, what’s going on? What’s going on? I don’t understand and that was my ‘I don’t understand’.”
The “Mama He’s Crazy” singer added that it’s a “bittersweet time” for her as her mother’s death anniversary coincides with her granddaughter Kaliyah turning one year old.
“I have both suffering and ecstasy,” Wynonna shared.
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Wynonna is coping with her loss in various ways, including being on the road to tour and writing a new song, “Broken and Blessed,” inspired by her mother.
“’I’m somewhere between hell and thank God’ is one of the lines in it,” he told ET in January. I struggle. And I think I say that on stage when I’m struggling.”
As previously reported, Naomi was found dead from a gunshot wound to herself on April 30, just one day before the Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wynonna previously shared that she knew something was wrong with her mother, who has a long history of mental health issues.
“I knew something wasn’t right in the sense that he was a little nervous, a little nervous,” he said.
However, in Naomi’s suicide note, she described Wynonna as “mentally ill” and asked her not to come to her funeral.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988..