Ashley Judd is opening the door on the mother the world never saw, starting with a college fight over a professor Naomi did not approve of.
Ashley Judd just pulled back the curtain on her famous mother, and the first story she told is a stunner.
On the debut episode of her new podcast, A Table Prepared, the Kentucky-raised actress, 58, revealed that the late Naomi Judd once threatened to cut her off. “Mom threatened to stop paying my tuition at the University of Kentucky because she didn’t like what I was learning,” she said.
The problem, according to Ashley, was who was doing the teaching. “She didn’t like [that] I had a lesbian theologian professor that was taking me through Hebrew scripture,” she explained, describing a course that examined passages with “the women listed as property after the donkeys.“
Ashley attended UK from 1986 to 1990, the years Naomi and Wynonna were riding high as The Judds. She never said Naomi followed through on the threat.
The tuition fight, she suggested, was a glimpse of a Naomi that fans never met. “Mom was afraid of disapproval and retaliation from the country music community if she didn’t hold a certain political line,” Ashley said. At home, though, Naomi “could share all kinds of political and social views,” views Ashley said “would surprise people.“
She admitted she has debated whether to share any of it now that her mother is gone. Her answer is deeply personal: “I’m still in a relationship with my mother, so I’ve asked her these things.” Naomi died in April 2022 at 76.
She also shared one of her mother’s private jokes. Before a minor procedure in 2020, Naomi grabbed the Sharpie she signed autographs with, and, Ashley said, “she wrote the word Trump on her inner thigh.” Ashley pushed back. “I won’t quote what she said back to me,” she said, “but we differed in that. And that’s when I chose to let it go.“
The Replies Turned on Ashley
Fans of Naomi did not take the stories well. The loudest lane told her to leave her mother alone: “Ashley Judd knew better to say this about Naomi. Let her rest in peace.” Another went further: “I don’t like how her and her sister are always blaming Naomi they wouldn’t have anything without her. Keep your grievances private and let her rest in peace.” The skeptics questioned the timing: “Another in a long line of celebrity children that remold their parents legacy after they died.” Others doubted the story outright: “Not sure I believe what she’s saying about her mother.” Naomi’s defenders spoke up too: “While no parent is perfect, Naomi Judd did try to stand by Scripture in context.” And the simplest advice of all: “You don’t have to share everything.“
Naomi Judd spent decades as country royalty, holding a careful public line. Her daughter just stepped over it, and plenty of fans wish she had not.
