Naomi Judd funeral: Here's why troubled granddaughter Grace Kelly won't be attending
Naomi Judd's granddaughter is likely to miss her grandmother's funeral as she is serving an eight-year sentence for cooking and dealing meth. Grace Kelly, 26, never requested to be released from jail in Tennessee, as reported by Dorinda Carter, the spokesperson for the state Department of Correction. Carter said of Wynonna Judd's daughter, Kelly, "We have not received a request. No one has asked," to DailyMail.
The country music legend died at the age of 76 years on Saturday. Many reports claimed she died of suicide after a lifelong battle with mental health issues. On Sunday, April 1, Naomi Judd was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the ceremony was attended by her daughters Wynonna and Ashley Judd.
READ MORE
How did Naomi Judd die? 'The Judd' vocalist, 76, tallied 5 Grammys and 9 CMA Awards
Naomi Judd's daughters break down at Hall of Fame induction ceremony a day after her death
Kelly was arrested and sentenced to eight years behind bars in 2020 and was granted parole a year later. Due to violating the terms of her parole, she was back in prison again. Spokesperson Carter informed that the warden of Debra Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville is more likely to entertain requests that surround extreme circumstances like a death in the family which raises the need to attend a church service or a funeral wake.
This request must come from a family member, lawyers, or the inmate themselves, as per Carter. However, no one has asked.
Kelly's troubles with the law have been ongoing for years. She was first arrested on her 20th birthday in June 2016. According to the Tennessee Department of Correction records, this was due to the manufacture, distribution, and sale of methamphetamine. After pleading guilty, Kelly served a month and was let go on probation a year later.
Because Kelly failed to stay clean, she was rearrested in 2020 as she violated the terms of her probation. A year later, in April 2021, she was released on the condition that she would go through drug rehabilitation and get tested regularly. However, in December 2021, she violated the terms again and was sentenced to serve the remaining time of her eight-year sentence behind bars.
Her next parole hearing date is set for December of this year and her final release date will be in April 2024. Grace and Elijah are Wynonna's children from her first marriage to Arch Kelly III which lasted three years.
In February 2020, the music legend said, "I will tell you this. My daughter is the strongest Judd woman in our 'herstory'" to FoxNews. She added, "She's healthier than I was at 23. How she got there — I would not go that way, but I was also sequestered. That could have been me if I didn't have music."