Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190083
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mark Marrison Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
She was sick, spending most of her time curled up in bed. The migraine headaches were getting worse and often lasted for days. She needed a golf cart to make it to the stage each night. Some shows had to be canceled.
"I felt like a prisoner in my own body," she said in a recent telephone interview from her home in Nashville. "And that's just not my style. I had never been sick before in my life."
Only on stage was there any relief.
"It was just a miracle. When the lights went up and the music started, for that hour, I was free from the burden of this illness."
Judd, 45, was diagnosed to have chronic active hepatitis, a debilitating and incurable liver disease.
And that meant an end to her career in country music as half of the mother-daughter duo, the Judds.
So, she called their manager, Ken Stilts, who she said sensed what the news was going to be even before she told him. They stayed up all night crying.
"We just sat there for hours and hours like a couple of lost children," she said.
But when it came time to tell her daughter, she couldn't. Stilts had to. "Wynonna and I were so wounded, we were so devastated by all of this, really we couldn't talk to each other about it at first."
She said Wynonna threatened to quit. If they couldn't sing as a team anymore, she told Stilts, then there was no reason to continue.
"She completely freaked out," her mother said.
It was several days later before they met face to face. She said Wynonna couldn't look at her. Instead, she looked out a window and wept.
It was decided then that they would make a farewell tour together and then go their separate ways - Naomi into retirement, Wynonna back on the road as a solo act.
Naomi Judd said her dying was never discussed.
Since that low point, she said things have improved. The hepatitis is in check for now, which means she has regained some of her old energy, and the final tour, which stops at the Salem Civic Center on Sunday night, has been playing to packed houses.
There is also a book deal and a possible television mini-series in the works.
Her doctors have been amazed, she said.
"I've got a hitch in my giddyup, but I'm still going."
Above all else, Judd says she credits her faith in God for helping her carry on these last six months. Since becoming ill, she said her faith has never been stronger.
"I'm living proof that we must use less than a tenth of our brain power and way less than a tenth of our faith power in the healing process," she said. "So many people don't realize that we have that resource available to us."
Fan support also has helped, she said.
Not surprisingly, Judd has been flooded with letters of support since she went public about her illness last October.
"The most touching letters are from people who simply say we're with you, people who have added my name to the prayer lists at their churches," she said.
Performing has been good for her as well.
"I just live for every night on stage," she said. "Each night is like an emotional catharsis for me. It's like saying goodbye to a dear friend for the last time."
She plans to retire in December and move onto a farm near Nashville with her husband, gospel singer Larry Strickland.
Wynonna, meanwhile, plans to release a first solo recording by early next year. Whether the 27-year-old singer can match her previous success with the Judds, however, will remain to be seen.
Since 1984 when the duo debuted, they have won four Grammy awards and eight Country Music Association awards and scored half a dozen gold albums.
Does that make her nervous?
"It's like she's five years old again and I'm behind her on the sliding board saying, `Come on Wynonna, you can do it!' " Naomi Judd said. "Yes, she's nervous."
But at least she won't have to contend with the gossip that could have surrounded her solo career had they chosen not to go public about the illness.
Judd, however, said that really wasn't a factor in making the announcement. "I wanted to send out a message of hope to people.
"Yes, I'm very ill, but I believe there are good things coming out of it," she said.
"I know that what we're going through, other families are going through and I just wanted them to know that if they really love each other and put their trust in the Lord, not only will they survive, but they will have peace."
Her only concern she said was that people would think she was seeking pity.
"That was my only problem with making it public," she said. "I'm not a complainer. I've always just gritted my teeth and beared it. I don't need pity. I need support.
"I've always said this is not my tombstone, it's just a stepping stone."
She said she feels no bitterness.
"If we were lucky enough to be in country music and attain the level of success we had, then it was also possible that I could come down with a deadly disease. That's just the way life goes."
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB