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Nearly a month after the death of her mother, Naomi Judd, Wynonna speaks to fans and reflects on the grieving process.
“So much is happening in the world right now,” Wynonna wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “So before I sat down to write this, I was like, ‘No… I just don’t know what to say.’ Then I heard the words of my life coach asking me, “What do you know?” And I started crying.”
“WHAT DO I KNOW??” Wynonna continued. “I know the pain of losing Mom to suicide on April 30 is such that I often feel like I will never be able to accept and surrender to the truth as she did it did . The Judds story cannot end like this.”
Judd’s daughters Wynonna and Ashley announced that Naomi had died on April 30, a day before mother-daughter duo The Judds were scheduled to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. “We lost our beautiful mother to mental illness. We are devastated,” Wynonna and Ashley tweeted last month. “Navigating through deep sorrow, we know that she was loved by her audience just as we loved her.”
On Sunday, Wynonna expressed that in order to continue showing up for her family despite the death of her mother, she must “break the cycle of addiction and family dysfunction.”
“We are shocked”:Naomi Judd, Grammy-winning duo The Judds, has died aged 76
More:Ashley Judd reveals mother Naomi Judd’s cause of death
“I have to keep showing up for myself (first) and doing the personal healing work,” she continued. “I know it’s a simple step program, and sometimes those steps aren’t easy. So I’ve made a commitment to keep doing the ‘next right thing’ and making weekly appointments so I can get on with the ongoing work even when I’m having good days.”
The country music singer shared that some days she also feels “helpless,” “especially now.”
But as “cheesy as it sounds,” she wrote “Love Can Build A Bridge,” referring to the 1990 hit The Judds. “I find myself listening to that song that Mama wrote for the fans at night humming to myself here on the farm,” Wynonna wrote.
Wynonna Judd tearfully honors Naomi Judd upon induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame: “My heart is broken”
More:What Ashley and Wynonna’s testimony about the death of their mother, Naomi Judd, did and didn’t say
Wynonna shared on Sunday that it takes a whole village to deal with the grief.
“I truly know that I cannot handle this grieving cause on my own and that it is okay to ask for help,” she wrote. “I will continue to fight for my faith, for my SELF and for my family, and I WILL continue to show up and sing.”
“Thank you all for your love and support,” she concluded. “Let’s check in more often.”
Since Naomi’s death, her daughters have honored and celebrated her legacy with the public and shared her grieving process. On Mother’s Day, Ashley wrote an essay for USA TODAY about what it was like to celebrate the first holiday without her mom.
“She passed away just days before my sister and I could once again show her how much we love and honor her,” Ashley wrote. “It shouldn’t be like that. I was supposed to visit her on Sunday to give her a box of old-fashioned sweets, our family tradition. We should take sweet delight in each other’s serene presence. Instead , I’m going. But my heart is not empty. It is filled with gratitude for what she left behind. Their care and tenderness, their music and their memories.”
Earlier this month, in an interview with Diane Sawyer for ABC’s Good Morning America, Wynonna and Ashley revealed that their mother died by suicide.
“The size of loss is the size of love,” Sawyer remarked at the beginning of their pre-taped conversation with Judd. Judd referred to her mother’s mental state before she “decided not to go on living” in the context of a “disaster that was happening inside her.”
“She was the queen”: Keith Urban covers a Judds hit in tribute to Naomi Judd, more stars mourn
Ashley Judd writes for USA TODAY:Honor my mother, Naomi Judd, and her legacy by making motherhood safe and healthy
Contribute: staff and wire reports; Marcus K. Dowling, The Nashville Tennessean
