By Barb Oates
In a remote part of Tennessee, Naomi Judd enjoys the beauty and privacy that the lush country hills offer. Living on a farm with her husband of 30-plus years she has surrounded herself with the people she loves most. Behind her house and just over the hill is the second half of the Grammy Award-winning duo the Judds, daughter Wynonna. “She could get to me in about five minutes if she comes on her ATV,” Naomi tells. “And then Ashley [Naomi’s movie star and humanitarian youngest daughter] lives next door and it’s one minute from her house to my house. … That’s the way I’ve always wanted it.” Adding to that girl power is another music great, Reba McEntire, who lives just around the bend.
It’s a serene place for a music icon whose younger days were filled with harsh family secrets and unthinkable hardships, yet Naomi is a survivor, a woman who has overcome countless obstacles and today continues to inspire others through her music, books and speaking. Earlier this year, we connected with Naomi to talk about her role in V.C. Andrews’ Ruby (March 20); it’s the first of four films that are part of Lifetime’s V.C. Andrews Landry Movie Series Event. The films follow Ruby Landry (Raechelle Banno), who, after being raised by her loving grandmother in the Louisiana bayou, is ensnared in a world of dark family secrets and betrayal when she discovers she has another family living in New Orleans.
“I find something in every character that they ask me to play,” Naomi says. “There’s got to be something.”
Naomi opens the four-film series starring as Ruby’s Grandmère Catherine.
“My first words — because I’m a shaman, I’m the medicine woman in the Bayou area — may be the first scene of the film. I walk up to this shanty that has a dirt floor. There’s a woman in agony, lying there, crying softly. She’s holding a newborn baby, but it’s dead, as the baby died at birth. So they had me come in to reduce the evil spirits in the room,” she explains. “So when I walk in and I see her lying there on the ground, the floor, the first thing I do is holler [some foreign ritual language].”
The Landry book series — Ruby, Pearl in the Mist, All That Glitters and Hidden Jewel — is the second-highest-selling series from V.C. Andrews, and Lifetime’s adaptation most likely will top ratings as did some of the other adaptations. Naomi, a bestselling author herself, wasn’t familiar with this book series but was quick to get sucked into the storyline. “As we kept going along, I’d get totally caught up in it. … In a way there were touchstones for me in the movie. And the fact that I’m a grandmother and I’m so protective.”
As for a much-needed updated biopic on the Judds’ or Naomi’s life, she’s not talking.
“I can’t talk about anything, but there is something. And it’s really hard for me not to spill the beans all the time, because my mom was the biggest gossip in our little town where I grew up and I swore I’d never be like her. I try, but it doesn’t always work.”
For now, be satisfied seeing the icon happy and healthy, and hope for more to come.