Now it’s just The Judd, singular

R.I.P. Naomi Judd, age 76

I kinda feel that I write the best baseball obits, and can usually find things to say about old-time movie and TV stars that other people miss, but I’m out of my league here. The AP, linked above, did a much better obit than I could have.

As to the cause of death: “We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.” People have interpreted that to mean “suicide,” although that has not been stated explicitly. Suicide does seem to be a reasonable inference, not only because of the cryptic wording of the daughters’ statement, but also because Naomi had discussed it the the past.

2 thoughts on “Now it’s just The Judd, singular

  1. If it was suicide it was likely consistent with the timing that she and her daughter were going to receive a life time achievement award or something.

    Not to make too light of this, but in response to the heading, it reminds me of the (fictional talk show) The Larry Sanders Show when Naomi Judd stopped touring with her daughter and Hank Kingsley announced Wynona Judd as “The Judd.”

  2. The word is that she killed herself, which kinda surprised me. If someone makes it to 76, and she has successful children, money, & fairly decent health, they tend to end up dying naturally. Naomi apparently said “fuck this” and checked out early. I wouldn’t have expected that from her. Though years ago I did hear Ashley Judd say that when she was a teen, Naomi was so paranoid about her getting tattoos that she’d sneak into her bedroom at night & remove Ashley’s clothes to check. That stuck in my mind as very weird & creepy; to have to lay there pretending to sleep while your Mom runs a flashlight over your naked body. Maybe Naomi was always somewhat disturbed and it got worse in her golden years.

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