Flashback: Wynonna Judd Confronts Life Struggles
In her many years as a country music singer, Wynonna Judd has had her ups and downs. As most celebrities discover, fame and fortune come with an assortment of undesirables to add to the various obstacles that life can bring. Let's take a look back at one of the current Dancing with the Stars member's more candid interviews.
On this day in 1998, Judd was interviewed by ET prior to one of her concerts on her tour for fourth solo album, The Other Side. At that point in her life, Judd had been in the public eye for over 15 years, beginning in the early '80s when she formed The Judds with her mother.
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Public attention, paired with her own introspective evaluations of her life and career, had taken a toll on the then-34-year-old singer and she wanted to take a step back and focus on what really mattered in her life.
"I used to worry about how I could be better, do more, be smarter, thinner, richer. I had my babies and I realized: They're my greatest inheritance," she says. "I don't have to strive anymore to be perfect. ... I can give myself a break now and I can enjoy the journey."
While she had achieved major success as a singer—including three solo albums that peaked in the Top 10 on the U.S. charts, two of which peaked at No. 1 on U.S. country charts—Judd struggled to bridge that prosperity into her personal life.
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For her, there was a parallel relationship between her happiness on stage and in life.
"Attitude is so much a part of what I do, and I've always had it on stage [but] I've had a hard time not having it off stage," she admits. "Now that I have it more, because I believe in myself more...I'm just satisfied being on stage now because I'm trusting the audience again."
Although media attention and swarms of paparazzi come with the territory of celebrity, Judd had a cutthroat attitude towards those who violated her privacy. She was fearless in expressing her opinions on national television.
"I pray for coals to be heaped on their heads," Judd says of the paparazzi. "I try to forgive 'em and it's hard. I'd like to come over to their house and stare in their windows and bug their telephones and follow them around for a while.
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"...I try to be aware of the fact that these people need a life and they don't have one, so they might as well pick on me because I could take it. I have a song out right now on my album that talks about, 'Take your best shot at me, buddy, 'cause I'm bulletproof.' That's my attitude."