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Kelsea Ballerini shared a heartfelt moment with Wynonna Judd, captured in the “No One Else On Earth” icon’s powerful new documentary. Ballerini shared that Judd was among her quickest supporters during a big moment in her life.
“You have this perception of people that are on the radio and in a glass box before you ever have the opportunity to meet them in the meet and greet or in a mall,” the 29-year-old Subject To Change star said, referencing the moment she met Judd for the first time as a teen. “There have been people that have been disappointing and there have been people that have been far greater than I could've ever imagined. Sharing the stage with you will be framed on my wall for the rest of my life. But the moment I will always appreciate the most is when you were the first call that I got when the news broke about my divorce.”
Judd’s eyes widened as she said, “I didn’t know that.”
“Thank you for being far more legendary than anyone will even actually know,” Ballerini said.
That heartfelt moment was captured during Judd’s full-length documentary, Wynonna Judd: Between Hell & Hallelujah, which premiered on Wednesday (April 26) and is now streaming on Paramount+. In it, Judd opens up about navigating the next stage of her life and career after unexpectedly losing Naomi Judd, her beloved mother and duo partner in The Judds. Judd and her sister, actress Ashley Judd, announced last year that they’d lost their mother on April 30, 2022, one day before the duo was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and shortly after The Judds announced their tour. She was 76.
Judd continued the tour in her mother’s honor, and included Ballerini among the star-studded list of guests at the shows. Judd also performed with Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Faith Hill, Little Big Town, Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood, all of whom appear in the documentary.
The powerhouse group of country artists also came together for CMT Presents The Judds: Love Is Alive — The Final Concert, which is set to air on CMT over the weekend. The two-hour special took place at the Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University, recreating The Judds’ show there during their farewell tour in 1991.
Judd previously said that the documentary is “real and it’s raw. It’s celebration and sadness. It’s all of the people who I leaned on during one of the toughest seasons of my life. I wanted the opportunity to tell my story in my voice. If doing so helps one person out there choose life, then I am grateful.”