The country singer, 58, opened up about the challenges she recently faced as the host of her family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and how the loss of her mother Naomi in April.
Judd said in a recent talk with David Kessler, grief specialist/expert and founder of grief.com, that she started preparing the feast well in advance, woke up the morning of and reminded herself to breathe.
The “Love Can Build a Bridge” singer said she “numbed out” around the time the sun went down, but felt “relief” once her guests began to arrive. Still, she said that pressure “to sort of be all things to all people” began to eat at her, and she had to take a breather in the bathroom.
Judd, who recently added a number of dates to her The Judds: The Final Tour show, went on to reveal that her Thanksgiving dinner was actually held on an “alternative day” — and that the holiday itself “sucked.”
Judd told Kessler that on actual Thanksgiving, she stayed cozied up in her pajamas and was “down for the count,” and later found herself reminiscing by looking through old scrapbooks as her frustration with her loss grew.
The Country Music Hall of Famer later said that with the holiday season just beginning, she’s still learning how to navigate being honest with her family about where she is in her grief journey. Judd said that, for example, she was recently invited to Naomi’s widower Larry Strickland’s Christmas party, but felt “selfish” about not wanting to go because she finds it “too painful.”
Since losing Naomi, 76, to suicide, Judd and her sister Ashley have spoken at length about the ways in which they’re coping.
