The Bridge Naomi Judd Built

Wynonna and Naomi Judd sing classic holiday music while the Band of the Air Force Reserve and Air Force Strings perform in the background during the 2008 Holiday Notes from Home concert, Dec. 9, 2008, at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Ken Hackman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Naomi Judd has passed over to the other side. In the words of her beloved daughters, she “died from mental illness”. Whether it was physical complications or suicide is truly beside the point. Tonight, I mourn the death of a woman who embodied hope, feminism and zero fucks given long before it was fashionable.

Being a single teenage mother today is incredibly difficult. Imagine being one in the early 1960s in the ultra conservative South. Ms. Judd didn’t let that get in her way. Even if she was not a perfect parent by her own admission, she got her daughters to adulthood the best she could and her love and pride in her daughters and her grandchildren were unfathomable. She worked multiple jobs to support her children, and she refused to give up her dream of a music career.

Nashville might not be as harsh a place as Los Angeles or NYC, but it’s a place that happily chews its stars up and spits them out, particularly the beautiful female ones. Temptations abound-drugs, alcohol, men all too willing to get you to allow them to sign your checks. Naomi Judd refused to comply with the patriarchal den of iniquity. She believed love could build a bridge, and she was willing to rebuild those bridges time and again.

When she learned she had contracted Hepatitis C, she didn’t run and hide. She owned it, back in the days Hep C was still a death sentence. She invited her fans on her journey to defeat a virus that was feared and still carries a great deal of stigma today. And instead of rejecting her, it made her public fall in love with her even more. When I was diagnosed with the same illness, I wanted to hide from the world. I knew I would be rejected by everyone. Naomi Judd’s bravery helped me realize that I wasn’t alone, and I had nothing to be ashamed of.

Naomi Judd and her beloved daughter Wynonna were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this Sunday. But all the honor and accolades in the world can’t soothe a tormented mind. My deepest condolences go out to her family, especially her daughters Wynonna and Ashley, and may they always feel her love surrounding them as she crosses that bridge she built years ago into the open arms of the sweet hereafter.