Before The Judds were winning Grammys and performing in sold out arenas, Naomi Judd was just a struggling mother of two, living off government-sponsored welfare (via The Washington Post). Naomi actually got pregnant with Wynonna at a very young age. According to USA Today, the birth of Wynonna in 1964 caused Naomi, who was 17 at the time, to miss her high school graduation. While Wynonna’s father left town after hearing of Naomi’s pregnancy, the country music singer married another man, Michael Ciminella, according to The New York Times.
Ciminella was actually the father of Ashley Judd, who was born in 1968. Unfortunately, Naomi’s first marriage did not work out and she was left raising her two kids alone by 1972. She didn’t let the setbacks stop her and even went to school during this time to become a registered nurse. At the same time, Naomi also encouraged her daughters to pursue their dreams in the arts. Wynonna even admitted in a 2015 interview, “I started singing, and Mom’d be doin’ chores and she’d start singing lower harmony. We’d sit around the supper table and just sing to pass the time” (via The Washington Post).
This was just the start of what would become the mother-daughter duo, The Judds, with Naomi and Wynonna. The two were then signed by RCA Records and quickly became one of country music’s biggest groups in the 1980s with hits like “Mama He’s Crazy” and “Turn It Loose.”
