Ashley Judd Felt ‘Invisible’ as Naomi and Wynonna Judd’s Country Music Career Took Off
Mother-daughter singing duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd took the world of country music in the 1980s, with the pair’s pitch-perfect harmonies and heartfelt songs helping to make them bona fide superstars. But as The Judds climbed the charts and took their show on the road, the youngest member of the family, Ashley Judd, was left behind to fend for herself.
Ashley eventually carved out her own successful career as an actor. But when her mother and older sister’s career took off, she was just a young teenager. And even though she was immensely proud of their accomplishments, she also felt a keen sense of abandonment, she reveals in Lifetime’s new docuseries, The Judd Family: Truth Be Told, which premieres May 10.
‘I was left alone,’ Ashley Judd says in new docuseries about the Judd family
Naomi Judd was a single mom who’d long dreamed of a better life for herself and her two daughters. Once she realized that her eldest child, Wynonna, had a musical gift, she vowed to do everything she could to make her a star. After years of struggle, the pair finally scored a record deal, with their memorable tunes and relatable mother-daughter dynamic helping them to connect with audiences.
But nurturing a burgeoning country music career meant hitting the road, and there was no room for Ashley on the bus. Naomi wanted her daughter to have a normal upbringing, so she left her behind in Kentucky.
“I was left alone in the 10th grade. And then I moved in with [my] dad in the 11th grade. And that pattern was replicated,” Ashley recalls in The Judd Family: Truth Be Told.
While Ashley knew her father loved her, he also had a drug habit and was in no position to care for a child.
“I was affected by his using,” she says. “At the time, he wasn’t able to stay home and look after me. I lived alone in that apartment for a year.”
Ashley Judd on her childhood: ‘I just fell through the cracks’
“Ashley, I’m sure, felt left behind,” Naomi’s widower Larry Strickland says in the candid docuseries, which also features interviews with Wynonna, and various friends and family. (Naomi died by suicide in 2022.) “She suffered … it changed her, for sure.”
“My hunch is that the justification for abandoning me came from this belief that I was this very capable child,” Ashley says. “And so nobody needed to take care of me. And both of my parents had those beliefs.”
“I felt so invisible. I just fell through the cracks,” she adds.
The neglect had a profound impact on Ashley’s life. When a man approached her and offered her the chance to model, she jumped at the opportunity. Her agency sent her to Japan, where she lived on her own in Tokyo, even though she was just 14 years old.
“It was a summer of commercial sexual exploitation,” she recalls. While working in Japan, she was molested by the head of the modeling agency and raped twice. “They just consumed my body,” she says.
When Ashley returned home, her mother learned about the assaults. But at the time, Naomi didn’t have the “information and perspective” to respond appropriately. Instead, she referred to her daughter’s rapist as her boyfriend.
Naomi’s perspective on consent later evolved, Ashley says. But at the time, her daughter felt her experiences had been “invalidated.” Still, she has understanding for her parents, despite their mistakes.
“Talking about the parts of the childhood in which I was just completely abandoned is hard, because it’s not about making my parents bad and wrong,” she says. “My parents didn’t know better. But in 1983, when I was 14 years old, I was just on my own.”
The Judd Family: Truth Be Told airs Saturday, May 10, and Sunday, May 11, at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.
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