Wynonna Judd and her sister Ashley Judd have two different biological fathers, but that fact wasn’t shared with Wynonna for most of her life. In fact, Naomi Judd didn’t tell her oldest daughter the truth until she was 30 years old. Wynonna explained to Oprah in 2006 that it took her a long time to get over that hurt. As she said, “The first thing I said was, ‘It’s okay.’ And of course I’m raging inside … and I’ve just now come to realize nine years later, I’m really angry.”
Naomi also spoke to Oprah, explaining that she wanted Wynonna to have the same last name as the rest of the family but, in retrospect, not telling Wynonna the truth was a mistake. “I don’t know that I thought about it every day of my life, but there were certainly very few days that I didn’t live with this secret and I think it does something to a child,” she said.
More bizarrely, Ashley Judd did know the truth about Wynonna’s father, and told the former talk show host that she believes Wynonna was more damaged by her mother’s lie than the reality of having a different biological father.