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CNN Larry King Live
The Judds Speak Out
Aired December 14, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the Judds, Wynonna and Naomi, here together. Are the family feuds, the rocky relationship behind them forever? And they open up about their brushes with death. Their lives can be a reality show.
Has TV come knocking for Wynonna or Naomi? The Judds and their last encore tour next on LARRY KING LIVE.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KING: A couple of quick notes before we start. Barbra Streisand is our special guest tomorrow night.
Thursday night, as you know, is the last show of LARRY KING LIVE, except we had pre-taped a major program on cancer. It will air on Saturday night. Please tell your friends about it. Don't miss it. A very important show dealing with cancer Saturday night.
Naomi Judd is a multi-platinum selling recording artist and best selling author. Wynonna Judd is Naomi's daughter, multi-platinum selling recording artist, too, and a best selling author.
The Judds are currently on stage together. In the midst of the last encore tour. The last time Wynonna and Naomi were on LARRY KING LIVE together was in 2001. But over the years they've each done eight separate guest appearances on this show.
Here's a look back. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAOMI JUDD: I was the reigning queen of everything in Juddom.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: In Juddom.
N. JUDD: Yes.
KING: You laugh at me when --
WYNONNA JUDD: Rock and roll.
KING: You'll never be back. Do you exercise, Naomi?
N. JUDD: Yes. I try. Nobody's ever asked me that. You're the titan of talk, I suppose.
KING: The titan of talk.
N. JUDD: I would never do Botox because I couldn't do this to Wynonna and Ashley.
KING: You know we got to do one night, you and her and Ashley ought to come on together. The three of you, the Judds. That would be --
N. JUDD: You guys behind the cameras, bring your oxygen masks.
KING: You break it down.
N. JUDD: Because we can suck it up real fast.
KING: We're going to set -- we're going to set that up.
You were doing harmony there, right? Explain that.
W. JUDD: Yes.
KING: You were singing -- you weren't singing the notes. Right?
W. JUDD: That was good, Larry.
KING: That was good, huh?
W. JUDD: Keep your day job.
(LAUGHTER)
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KING: All right, back the Judds, in the middle of the last encore tour. If you believe that, I've got another bridge to sell you. Of course they'll be touring when they're 83 in the nursing home tour.
They're at the Nokia Center tomorrow here in Los Angeles. We're lucky enough to have them with us tonight. Looking back all --
N. JUDD: We're honored.
KING: My honor. Looking back over those interviews, you two are on a roller coaster. Forget about singing. Do you ever feel like you're living on a roller coaster?
W. JUDD: Yes, you know, what? I was noticing your ties and our hair color. You have a different tie -- every time we're on the show, our hair color is different. We are the reigning queens of red head.
KING: That's not the question. W. JUDD: I know, but I'm -- this is my show now. What was the question, Larry?
KING: Have you become a diva?
W. JUDD: If you toured with your mother, what would you do?
(LAUGHTER)
KING: What's it like for you two when you've got to be together all the time?
N. JUDD: We don't have to be together all the time. We're doing this tour. The last one is Phoenix next Sunday.
KING: And that's it?
N. JUDD: Yes. But --
KING: Then the Judds go their separate ways?
N. JUDD: No. We're going to do a reality show for Oprah.
W. JUDD: We're going to do the "O" network.
KING: You're going on Oprah's network?
W. JUDD: We're doing a reality show because we have our own reality.
N. JUDD: She has hers and I have mine.
KING: What about Ashley? Is she going to be in it?
N. JUDD: Heck no.
W. JUDD: I don't know. I don't know. Have we asked her?
KING: When does that show start? When does that network start?
N. JUDD: In the spring.
W. JUDD: Spring.
KING: What time of day are you going to be on?
W. JUDD: I don't know.
N. JUDD: I don't know either.
W. JUDD: We're filming it right now.
KING: And how do they follow you around? Where do you two --
W. JUDD: They're right outside the hallway and they wait for one of us -- KING: I see that. You don't live in the same place, though, do you?
W. JUDD: We live on the same farm.
N. JUDD: Yes. Ashley, Wynonna and I share of alley. We call it jokingly Peaceful Valley.
W. JUDD: That's the paradox.
N. JUDD: But Ashley is actually at home right now. She's getting ready for Christmas so that when we go home -- again our last show is Sunday night in Phoenix, we've got -- I think this week's shows are all sold out, but when we go home, we'll have Christmas with Ashley. She's going to decorate everything. So we do --
KING: She's one terrific actress, by the way.
N. JUDD: I know. She just finished a movie with Morgan Freeman. Another one.
KING: Yes, I love -- she's --
W. JUDD: I gave her great inspiration growing up. I told her how to emote.
KING: You taught her how to act? Why are you sitting sideways?
W. JUDD: I'm just feeling drawn. I'm feeling a little insecure and I need -- some reassurance.
KING: Well, are you two on good terms now in this tour?
W. JUDD: Excellent. Actually the reality show, people are like, can you guys please blow -- you know, blow a gasket or do something illegal or crazy because you guys are so --
KING: Well, how are you going to sell a reality show if everything is good?
W. JUDD: I'm just making up stuff.
N. JUDD: It's real life.
KING: You make up anger?
W. JUDD: Mm-hmm. Like I did today.
N. JUDD: No.
W. JUDD: I walked offset.
KING: What did you do?
W. JUDD: No, the point is -- I know we're not supposed to talk about everything we do. KING: Go ahead. Tell us.
W. JUDD: It's the dynamics of -- if it's not one thing, it's your mother. One day it's a Hallmark card, the next day it's -- you know we talk about hormone replacement.
N. JUDD: Actually --
W. JUDD: And then the next day we do a sold-out concert like you guys filmed the other night and everybody is just freaking out over the -- you know, history of our catalogue musically.
N. JUDD: The war -- it's a daily, it's just like a marriage. Any kind of relationship, partnership where you work together, love together and live together.
KING: But are you the boss?
N. JUDD: No.
KING: You're the mother.
N. JUDD: I'm the honorary mother. That's one of the biggest lessons I've learned in the last 10 years is -- because what happened right before we went on air. Hang on, can I answer the question?
W. JUDD: I'm sorry, I interrupted.
N. JUDD: See how good? See, it works.
KING: So far.
(LAUGHTER)
N. JUDD: The camera men have bits, don't you?
KING: I forgot what I asked.
N. JUDD: You asked if I was the boss. And I said no.
KING: OK. Thanks.
N. JUDD: I'm the honorary mother. Because I raised Wynonna and Ashley by myself through some really hard times. And I was overly protective all those --
KING: Of both of them or her?
N. JUDD: Both of them, very much so. So the last 10 years, I've realized what doesn't work, how I want things to be. And that's one of the things that they're capturing with all the behind-the-scene cameras. They literally get us when we're getting out of bed in the morning.
W. JUDD: We had a challenge.
(CROSSTALK)
N. JUDD: Before we go to bed.
KING: What was the challenge?
W. JUDD: The challenge is being heard in families. Our philosophy was, we'd rather be right than be loved. And today we had to learn to listen to one another, even when we're in our own stuff and really hear the other person even if we disagree.
KING: What would you say, Wynonna, has been the biggest conflict among the Judds in all these years? What has been the one --
W. JUDD: When she touches my hair or pinches my cheeks when we're performing for the president or says she's the little girl that used to hide her peas in her milk. She forgets that I'm, like, 46 and I have a career sometimes, because I'm still -- once a mother always a mother.
So it's that thing of -- you know what, mom? You're my mom right now, but like in 10 minutes we're going to be on stage, you're my partner. How do we separate that?
N. JUDD: I don't do that anymore, do I?
W. JUDD: Not as much as you used to, no.
N. JUDD: I want to give you a quick example. Today, the guy that is in charge of getting the reality show done, and again she's got a camera crew, I've got a camera crew. So Oprah wanted us to just be ourselves and have the camera be a fly on the wall.
Today, they wanted us to sort of go down memory lane and we went to our old house and by the time we got to -- can I tell this? Are you OK?
W. JUDD: It's national television, might as well.
N. JUDD: We get to the Hallow Way Motel (ph) and I had a horrible life changing event happen where I had to take the kids and hide in the Hallow Way Motel. And the camera guy drove right by the door, I mean the little door where 30 years ago --
KING: You were attacked.
N. JUDD: I had this -- yes, I had a tragic event. So I was flooded, that's the emotional term for -- I went away. I was there and she was trying to talk about what it was like for her because she was there and I couldn't hear it. I was just absolutely -- I was flooded. Every emotion that I could have -- shame, guilt, horror, fear, desperation.
KING: Why do you do this? Why put yourself through that?
W. JUDD: That's a great question.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: That's why I asked it.
W. JUDD: OK, you really want to know the truth?
KING: Yes.
W. JUDD: Besides the fact that I'm willing and open to be a work in progress and share that, I get literal mail from people who say a mother who says to me because of what you said on "Oprah," I tried it with my child today and we're closer.
I get affirmations from the fans who say I tried what you said. For instance, when we did "Oprah,' I said that doesn't work for me. And she said I'm going to use that.
N. JUDD: I want to be a teacher.
W. JUDD: I'm a teacher and I believe that -- and you know me pretty well. We've talked .I believe in being a teacher to this next generation who are out there wondering who they are. And if they're going to make it, how to stay grounded because I was 18 years old and famous. And I didn't have a great teacher at the time.
We have a life coach that's out on the road with us, saying you know what? You can -- your mother will always be your mom but you can also tell her and use your voice and say no.
And I want to teach other people who will never get counseling, who'll never get maybe a chance to have a close relationship.
KING: But when you go -- you go to a room where you had a terrible event, you're playing to the lowest common denominator. You're playing at our heartstrings.
N. JUDD: We're sharing our life experience so that people don't think that we're just this successful chicks who sing and our life is perfect.
N. JUDD: I have no --
W. JUDD: We're saying we're human.
N. JUDD: I had -- I had no idea the camera was there. I literally had no idea the camera was --
W. JUDD: See, that's the problem we're starting to forget.
N. JUDD: It's up here. They had one of these little magic cameras that --
KING: Yes.
W. JUDD: And you forget it's there.
N. JUDD: Yes, it was up here. KING: You do.
N. JUDD: And I was so in my body, you know, I'm fascinated by neuroscience of the brain.
W. JUDD: Let's move -- let's move on.
N. JUDD: Well, there's a part of the brain that's reptilian. It's the (INAUDIBLE) part. And that's where you go when you have PTSD like I did. And then after you cool down which takes about 20 minutes on the average then you go to your frontal lobe --
W. JUDD: We're teaching other families how to heal.
KING: Our guests are the Judds, Wynonna and Naomi, both multi- platinum recording artists. And they're on tour. The tour finishes next week in Phoenix. Tomorrow night here in Los Angeles at Nokia. It's sold out.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back. Why does the singing do you think work so well?
N. JUDD: It gives us a chance to bond without having to use our own words. We don't have to have any psychological skills, any communication standards.
W. JUDD: It's the closest thing to heaven on earth when you plug into a power greater than yourself. And when we step out on that stage like the other night when you guys were filming, the audience literally is -- we're like levitating.
KING: When we sent a crew to film.
W. JUDD: It was incredible. They were levitating us with their support, love, and their stuff. You know they're living their lives with our music in the background.
N. JUDD: I think there is a -- and I actually thought about this today. You have the bad stuff, but it's not what happens to you. It's what you do with it. I really believe that with all my heart or I wouldn't be here.
And today, I was able to see stuff way in the past that I've overcome. I've had a breakthrough. But all these people along the way that have sort of been the kindest of strangers.
W. JUDD: The fans.
N. JUDD: I see them in the audience when we sing. That's why I get emotional or cry. And I see all their faces, and I'm the most happy. I'm not nervous.
KING: We all agree that Wynonna has an incredible voice. I mean it's a --
N. JUDD: The best -- the best there is.
KING: Yes. There's no voice like your voice. And have the emotions of your life affected your singing?
W. JUDD: Big time. I almost died twice this year. Are you kidding me? When I sing "Ave Maria' now, I think I have a depth that I didn't have before.
KING: What do you mean you almost died?
W. JUDD: March, I had a blood clot pass through my heart and blood clots in my lungs while making a record.
N. JUDD: And in your legs.
W. JUDD: And then I almost died in a car crash, 100 mile an hour impact. I should have died. But they loved my music so they upgraded me to an SUV and that's what saved me.
KING: You were in 100-mile-an-hour car crash?
W. JUDD: The impact was 100-mile-an-hour.
KING: Who was -- who --
W. JUDD: I don't know the guy but they --
KING: You were driving?
W. JUDD: They -- no, my road manager Tammy saved it because she went the right way. The guy says if it hadn't been for her turning -- you know it's god wink thing, you just kind of go wow. And I was on stage the next night.
KING: You're amazing.
We talked about them in concert. Well, we sent a crew to film them in concert. And when we come back, you're going to see just a bit of it. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: By the way, there are still some seats left for the Los Angeles concert tomorrow night at the Nokia Theater. And that will go after this appearance tonight.
To the delight of their many, many fans, The Judds are on the road in what they're billing as the last encore tour. Our LARRY KING LIVE cameras were there for their recent show at the sold-out Arco Arena in Sacramento. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
N. JUDD: Let's do something crazy tonight. My two favorite words, Larry King sold out. Big hair requires big combs.
But you're on LARRY KING LIVE right now. Do you want to say anything to Larry?
W. JUDD: I love Larry.
N. JUDD: No, I love him more.
W. JUDD: I love Larry.
N. JUDD: I love him more.
W. JUDD: You think?
N. JUDD: We love women with attitude.
We're getting ready to go do a sold-out show but nothing is more exciting to come and see Larry --
W. JUDD: Nothing can stop us from Tuesday.
N. JUDD: On Tuesday night live. Be afraid, we're live.
That's what I'm talking about.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Is this really the last encore tour? Really?
N. JUDD: I think so.
KING: You're not going to tour again?
N. JUDD: I mean she asked me to do this. This was her idea. And what was so neat was Oprah personally asked us if we would have our own show on her network, so I mean, we're -- I mean we barely get enough time to eat and sleep right now because --
KING: Why did you want to team up again, Wynonna?
W. JUDD: My last record was about reverence and paying homage to my past. You know I've talked a lot about, you know, the people you've gotten to talk to along the way. That's what you remember the most. Is the history.
Your career is coming to a close and you think what matters the most are the people that are there. The hits are great. And I've enjoyed singing them every night. I know that you're not always going to be here. And there was a time when I used to say oh, my god if it's not one thing, it's your mother.
And now every day -- I used to literally wake up, go oh, god, what is she going to do to me today? And now I literally wake up and go, oh god, thank you for today and what do I get to do with her?
So I think it's a respect thing and it's -- it's just time. A woman knows when it's time to have another baby, get married --
KING: Are you enjoying it?
W. JUDD: It's take your mother to work here.
KING: Are you enjoying it?
W. JUDD: I am 99 percent of the time until she does something that absolutely makes me -- like the other night. She did something and I thought we're going to need to talk about this.
N. JUDD: What I said on stage?
W. JUDD: Yes. Don't even say it.
N. JUDD: Can I ask him?
W. JUDD: No. You can't --
KING: Why did she say to you?
W. JUDD: No, I'm not telling you.
KING: You don't do that on the show and then not say it.
W. JUDD: I said something about our family being crazy. And she said the egg doesn't fall far from the chicken. And I just look at her like, are you kidding me? Did you just say that? See, I just said it.
N. JUDD: Do you find that offensive?
W. JUDD: I do.
N. JUDD: I mean it's her reality but --
KING: I find it weird.
(LAUGHTER)
W. JUDD: That's why we're on this show. So we can tell people what we look like.
KING: Do you naturally harmonize well together? That's a gift, right?
W. JUDD: It's a blood thing.
N. JUDD: Yes.
KING: Yes.
N. JUDD: It comes so natural. Neither one of us have had any training.
W. JUDD: I don't even have to look at her. I can -- it's like, I can sing something and know that she'll find her place.
KING: Does Ashley sing?
W. JUDD: Yes, to me she does.
KING: She doesn't tour, though, right?
W. JUDD: Not yet.
N. JUDD: But she comes to see us on the road. She was at the Louisville show the other night.
W. JUDD: She can sing. I think she just has been, you know, in her world. I've been in mine. We haven't cross pollinated as we say.
N. JUDD: What's interesting is that all of us have such passion. Ashley's passion --
W. JUDD: Diversity.
N. JUDD: Yes. Well, Ashley's passion is for, A, she's a global ambassador, she goes to India and Africa. And literally gets down in the --
W. JUDD: We're a (INAUDIBLE) patient.
N. JUDD: She literally gets down to brothels and slums and all that. And she went to Harvard and graduated last year. So she's over here just finishing a movie and then Wynonna is --
W. JUDD: I'm redoing my closet, by the way. And raising teenagers.
N. JUDD: I'm proud of you, too.
W. JUDD: No, I'm just saying.
N. JUDD: But Wynonna is --
W. JUDD: Harvard, teenagers.
N. JUDD: She's emotionally labile. She is like a human roller coaster. She's like a seismograph. You know she's intuitive, of course, and she picks up on other people's vibes.
KING: Right. She can predict earthquakes.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: She's seismograph --
N. JUDD: Well, yes, I'm talking about --
W. JUDD: He is very funny.
N. JUDD: On an emotional scale, she can go from zero to 10. KING: Maybe she will in the next segment. We'll be right back with The Judds. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
N. JUDD: We've known Larry so long. On our show we're going to expose all of his secrets. We have tapes, we have recorded tapes. We have hidden video cameras. That will get some viewers.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Let's take a call for The Judds. Always great having them with us. Next appearance Nokia Theater, Los Angeles tomorrow night.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Hello. Hello? Are you there? Good- bye. Let's try Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Larry. Congratulations, I love you. I have a question for Miss Naomi. I have hepatitis C and so does my husband for 10 years now. And you have been our inspiration for so long with the disease.
And I want to know how you stay so beautiful and how strong you are. And how you're hanging in there. And is there anything that you can say for us that can help us go as far as you have?
I really need to know, Naomi. Help us, please.
N. JUDD: Well, bless your heart.
KING: What's the disease?
N. JUDD: Hepatitis C. It's actually going to kill four times more Americans than AIDS will in the next decade. People don't know that. I'm sad to hear that. The good news is that I actually just had a meeting with pretty much America's expert last week. He's Dr. Bruce Bacon at St. Louis University in Missouri.
And we have a new drug coming out. It's going through the FDA right now. And we think that it's going to have a really high cure rate. If you take Intron which is new and advanced with -- pegolated Intron. With Riboverin right now, the combination, we're seeing like a 72 percent cure rate.
When I had it in 1990, there was nothing you could do for it.
KING: How did you get it?
N. JUDD: I used to work in ICU as an RN, needle sticks. But I want to let you know that there is hope, medically, scientifically speaking. But I encourage you to find out about the spirit-mind-body connection. I love the fact that your husband supports you. You have to have a strong support system.
We're hard wired to be social and have support systems. And people desperately --
KING: What are the -- when you have it, what are the things that happen to you?
N. JUDD: It's blood borne. You can't get it from kissing somebody. It has to be blood transfused. Organ --
KING: So what happens when you have it?
N. JUDD: You feel like you've got the world's worst case of the flu. You become clinically depressed. I urge everybody, by the way, to get an antidepressant that works for them. We've got eight SSRIs right now.
You have to -- it's like someone said I use all the brains that I have and borrow from everybody. Everything that you can think of to do. Simple stuff like lower --
W. JUDD: (INAUDIBLE)
N. JUDD: Lowering your stress, which sounds easily said but there's so many things you can do. I had a book called "My Breakthrough Guide." And in there, I talk about my studies into neuroscience about the healing part.
KING: You don't have it anymore.
N. JUDD: No.
KING: OK.
What was she like to live with when she had it, Wynonna.
W. JUDD: I call it survivor's guilt because she had to quit the road. I watched her disintegrate. It was the slowest suicide. It was awful. Worst period of my life. And four months later, I was out on stage by my life. Worst period of my life as an adult. And yet my son was born and all these things happened to me that brought me life. It was a strange death in lifetime.
KING: Is it different for you when you're singing alone?
W. JUDD: It is different for me, because I don't have to look out of the corner of my eye and here goes that old prissy button dress thing going on. Like literally, I'm singing, Larry, and I look around and think where did she go.
KING: Do you hop around a lot?
W. JUDD: I'm standing there singing my butt off, playing the guitar, trying to do mechanical -- you know, all the words and she's just -- you know what she reminds me of, the perfect hostess. She's like Miss America, you know, on 11th.
KING: You mean, she doesn't make any mistake. W. JUDD: She doesn't and people love it. Like the other night, I completely forget the words because some guy is going like this. I forget what I'm doing. This people are so incredible.
KING: Somebody is blowing you kisses?
W. JUDD: Oh, yes, you have no idea. Women and men are blowing me kisses. They love me. I love them. It's 25 years. And they've been there since the beginning, now wearing the Judd T-shirt.
N. JUDD: When I get on stage, and I can't speak for you, but my guess is you're the same. When you get on stage, it's a confluence of so many different things. Yet I'll allude to the brain and how the brain medicates our body. Our brain is like a drugstore. Like Walgreens. So when I get on stage, you have all the different lights. And lights are very powerful. You know, for instance, I get depressed in the winter time without light. You have all these gorgeous golden lights that are so heavenly. And you feel like the top of your head is open and it's just pouring in.
KING: And 20,000 people screaming.
W. JUDD: They're all over you.
N. JUDD: It's not so much that they're screaming. My thing is to get energy from them.
W. JUDD: I want men screaming at me.
N. JUDD: And I want to read their faces and I just see such kindness, such decency.
KING: You get loved poured out every night.
W. JUDD: And generations. You literally got the 11-year-old to the 80-year-old grandpa. We're seeing generations of new Judd heads being born.
N. JUDD: And when we sing together, there's an after tone. There's a third entity when you sing harmony together. It's psycho acoustics. It how music affects the brain wave activity, and it changes our brainwave activity, and I think it changes the audience, too.
W. JUDD: We're better people when we sing.
KING: You're weird, Naomi.
N. JUDD: No, I'm not.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: I say that as a compliment. You're in a different world.
W. JUDD: And look whose talking. We're all weird, aren't we?
In this show, how long have you been on the air?
KING: Altogether, 53 years.
W. JUDD: To do what you've done is weird for 53 years.
KING: Weird.
W. JUDD: Don't you think what we do is weird.
N. JUDD: We have an 11-year-old son who's playing the violin right now.
W. JUDD: I mean, that's a good thing.
N. JUDD: He's a baseball player.
KING: That's weird. OK, it's weird.
W. JUDD: No, it's normal.
KING: It's weird.
I'll be back with the Judd Heads after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I think we have made a connection now with Sioux Falls, South Dakota with The Judds.
Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): Yes, thank you, Larry.
KING: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wyonna and Naomi, you have had the opportunity to tour the country. What would you say if one of the funniest artist that you worked with and what impact did they have on your career in the earlier years?
KING: OK.
N. JUDD: I'm going to say Dolly. I'm mesmerize --
KING: You worked with Dolly.
N. JUDD: I actually could call her a friend. I saw her a couple of weeks ago. I'm fascinated by her. There are a couple of people like Bono, we haven't work with Bono, but U2 are friends of ours. Bono and Dolly.
W. JUDD: For me it's been The Mavericks, Johnny Cash, the ones who would not conform. The ones who said, I am who I am and I will not change because of the format. This is my idea of Tony Bennett, absolute hair on the back of my neck standing on end. Stevie Wonder. The stylists that you and I talk about.
N. JUDD: I was with my Lisle last night.
W. JUDD: Tammy Wynette.
(CROSSTALK)
N. JUDD: I would say Lisle falls in the category.
W. JUDD: Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, George Jones.
KING: Willie Nelson.
W. JUDD: Yes, we worked with him for years.
The Mavericks, The High Women.
KING: There's no voice like Willie, no voice Johnny Cash.
W. JUDD: You know who they are immediately.
KING: Yes.
W. JUDD: We're losing that.
N. JUDD: Did you say George Jones.
KING: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): Hi, Larry, hi ladies.
KING: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a big fan. My question is for Wynonna.
This time of the year I really love listening to you sing "Mary Did You Know" with Kenny Rogers. Is there anyone current that you would like to do a duet with? And what do you think any acting in your future?
KING: Good question.
W. JUDD: I'm acting right now.
(LAUGHTER)
N. JUDD: She's being her highest self. She's on adult behavior right now.
KING: Anyone you want to work with.
W. JUDD: I've sung with the best. The one that's left is Bono.
KING: He doesn't sing your kind of music.
W. JUDD: Yes he does. I'm a rocker. KING: You're not a country singer.
W. JUDD: I mean, I inducted Queen into the Rock Hall of Fame. I sing Queen song. I'm crazy. I sing with Patti Labelle and the Gospel Record. But my point is I like the ones that are unique. Tony Bennett would probably be my absolute --
KING: What makes Bono great?
W. JUDD: He's a stylist and he is unique, and his passion is unparalleled for humanity.
N. JUDD: By the way, he is -- I was at his house in Ireland.
W. JUDD: It was not his place. It's so cute.
N. JUDD: But, anyway, he said that Johnny Cash was his all time greatest hero.
W. JUDD: He's a poet. I want people who are like Aretha, so authentic and so raw and uncertain.
N. JUDD: I think Bono because he's a social commentator as well. He's so politically and socially active.
KING: What is it like when you both have, you know, amazing voice. What is it like when you hear Aretha?
W. JUDD: I stood literally 10 feet from her, watching her play piano and singing and I wept. I don't know how to explain it, Larry. It brings out something so primal like the mother's heartbeat and the laughter of a child. It is not of this world.
KING: We wish her the best. She's not well now.
N. JUDD: She's had problems for 20 years.
(CROSSTALK)
W. JUDD: I think that's another reason why we're started touring. Because, you know, we are losing our legends. I don't want to forget where I came from. I want to try a lot of different musical styles. I do not want to forget The Judd music that we put in 25 years.
N. JUDD: Everybody knows all the words every night. I'm just --
KING: They sing with you?
N. JUDD: Absolutely.
You know, one thing I want to make a point of about us touring together. One of the reasons that we did this, you first said it, is that our relationship has undergone such a major transformation.
KING: From? N. JUDD: We're on the other side.
W. JUDD: From being reactive to proactive.
N. JUDD: Yes. One of my biggest things is not to be reactive. I'm a very calm centered person normally, but --
KING: She sets you up.
N. JUDD: And I've had to learn how to be an adult and be the honorary mother, if you will.
W. JUDD: Learn how to be an adult.
N. JUDD: I want everybody to be adult behavior.
W. JUDD: Good luck with that.
N. JUDD: You know as a parent, you get so emotionally invested.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: What did you whisper?
W. JUDD: His question is trying to --
KING: I'm trying to go to break.
N. JUDD: OK.
KING: Well, how about this? She's so much more better at show business than you. She spotted that instantly. You, on the other hand, whatever world you live in, you didn't spot that.
N. JUDD: I was in my UCC, my upper cerebral cortex and all my neurons are snapping.
KING: I went to my upper cerebral cortex the other day --
N. JUDD: You did, too?
KING: And it wasn't there.
W. JUDD: I forgot.
KING: We'll be back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Rowan, Iowa for The Judds. Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): Hi.
KING: Hi. Turn your television down. What's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, first of all, I would like to say thank you to you for being such a wonderful inspiration in the entertainment world.
KING: What's your question, dear, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is for Wyonna.
KING: Go ahead. If you don't your television down, I'm going to lose you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, how she learned to forgive her mom for --
KING: OK, how did you?
W. JUDD: I went into a process called sort of a 12-step healing, take a look at your crap, and I have a daughter who started doing the same thing to me that I did to her. It's called compassion.
KING: You're a single mom.
W. JUDD: Yes.
KING: Tough, isn't it.
W. JUDD: Yes. And it happened today, Gracie said something. She said mom, I don't need you to defend yourself or explain. I just need for you to apologize to me. And I said that to her so many times. I think it's just compassion and realizing she did the best she could with what she had and sometimes it wasn't enough for me.
KING: We had this question posted to us on our Facebook page.
Will The Judds record another album together?
W. JUDD: Absolutely.
I'm going to wait, though, until she is like, you know, in a wheelchair and she can't walk or something. I don't know the answer to that. I make up stuff at this point. I mean, that's like saying to me, am I going to change my hair color. I mean, it is inevitable.
KING: What is your hair color?
W. JUDD: Deep auburn.
N. JUDD: It doesn't occur in nature, I'll tell you that.
KING: What is your color?
N. JUDD: I don't know. What do you think? Mahogany?
KING: It's similar, isn't it?
W. JUDD: I've got five in mine because you know I'm a diva.
KING: We know. You've become a diva. W. JUDD: You know what, I hate that word, but do you know why I say that because I have to affirm myself every day because when I go home, nobody listens.
KING: We have to do a Snickers commercial.
We've got this question for The Judds from our Facebook page.
Which Judd song best describes your relationship?
WYNONNA JUDD and N. JUDD: Love can build a bridge between your heart and mine. Love can build a bridge. Don't you think it's time. Don't you think it's time.
W. JUDD: Probably that, because love is the greatest of these is love. Our family, we wanted to be right more than love.
N. JUDD: I think don't be cruel.
KING: To a heart that's true.
N. JUDD: No, don't be cruel period.
W. JUDD: To a heart that's true.
KING: We'll be back with more. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Anderson Cooper will host "AC 360" at the top of the hour.
What's the lead tonight, Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We lead breaking news tonight. Amazing video tonight, Larry, of a shooting at a Florida school board meeting. A gunman openly fire on school board members at close range, you see it right there. It was all caught on an Internet video feed as it unfolded. We're going to have the complete video for you. Amazing the school board members survived.
Authorities said the gunman took his own life after being shot at by an officer. The video is frankly breathtaking. The gunman's target is superintendent. He joins us tonight to talk about what it's like staring down the barrel of a mad man's gun.
Then the birther's are back again. An army doctor going on trial today because he refuse to deploy in Afghanistan saying the order came from a commander-in-chief who may not in fact be a natural born citizen. He's talking about President Obama. But will the judge even listen to his claims about the president? You can find out tonight.
And a bill currently in Congress would require presidential candidates to provide original copies of their birth certificates. Do the lawmakers who introduce it really believe that President Obama is not a citizen? We try to ask them and we'll show you what happened when we did. We're keeping them honest. Those stories and a lot more, Larry, at the top of the hour.
KING: It gets weirder and weirder, doesn't it, Anderson?
COOPER: It sure does.
KING: Anderson Cooper, 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.
Back with our remaining moments with The Judds.
One more question from our Facebook.
What era do you think gave us the best country music?
W. JUDD: Wow.
N. JUDD: I would say Loretta, Tammy and Dolly. That era, because it was the -- they were in the frontier.
W. JUDD: '70s and '80s.
N. JUDD: They were the vanguard. Oh the ' 80s?
W. JUDD: Well, I say that just because there was so much craziness going on. I loved the diversity.
(CROSSTALK)
I'd say Tammy Wynette, Loretta, Dolly and all those women who came before us are she-roes.
N. JUDD: The 80s was -- what was the John Travolta movie about cowboys?
KING: "Urban Cowboy."
N. JUDD: Thank you. And then you've got that real slick, overproduced. I think the '80s was the least --
W. JUDD: Country music will always be in a state just like -- when I see the stuff on TV and I go, there will always be a place for music in war time and peace time.
KING: Do you like rap?
W. JUDD: I do because of my children. I appreciate the poetry of it. I don't necessarily agree with some of the things they're saying once I understand what they mean.
KING: Naomi, you're not --
W. JUDD: As long as I don't pay attention to the words, the music is great. The dance, too.
KING: The music? You can hum it, too.
W. JUDD: Yes.
KING: You don't like it?
N. JUDD: No. Rap is to music what an etch-a-sketch is to art.
W. JUDD: You have to remember, I understand the art form. Rapping is beautiful, black man standing on a street corner talking poetry about his life. That I love. I love words, I love poetry, I love music. I love the look on your face and I love all kinds of music. I'm not a metal head, but I'll go watch it and go, wow, that's really different.
KING: We only have about a minute left.
Is there any man in your life at the current time, Naomi?
N. JUDD: Well, he's been there 30 years and he's singing back up on us.
KING: Oh, he's still with you?
N. JUDD: Yes. He helps us as backup singer.
(CROSSTALK)
Don't you remember, one time, when you were in between marriages and you were hitting on me, you said if I said -- you said if I said my husband's name in bed it'd be OK because his name is Larry? You don't remember all that?
KING: No, I don't. And I also -- I can't see how I could turn on by someone with psychosomatic --
(LAUGHTER)
Are you involved with anyone, now?
W. JUDD: Yes, I'm very much in love, and it's going to come out on the show in March.
KING: Who is it?
W. JUDD: I ain't telling you.
KING: Do you know him?
W. JUDD: 25 years.
N. JUDD: Yes, I know him very well.
KING: 25 years, you know him.
So he's been around a long time? Is this a late-found love?
W. JUDD: I had a crush on him when he was 18.
KING: One other thing, is he in the business?
W. JUDD: Yes. He's a rock star.
KING: He's a rock star.
W. JUDD: No, he's not. Not a rock star.
N. JUDD: Yes, he is.
W. JUDD: Anyway, the point is, Larry, he could take us to dinner next time I come to town.
KING: We're out of time.
N. JUDD: May I say something? We adore you, and I don't know what we're going to do without you.
W. JUDD: And you're our American treasure.
KING: And you are dolls.
And (INAUDIBLE) tomorrow night, and Barbra Streisand is our guest for the hour and tomorrow night.
We have a preview for you next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Barbra Streisand is our guest tomorrow night. We sat down with her fabulous Malibu home a couple days ago, talked about Presidents Clinton and Obama, her husband, James Brolin and The Fockers. Here's a preview.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: I asked you this once. Are you a singer who acts or an actor who sings?
BARBARA STREISAND, SINGER: An actress who sing -- yes. I mean, I really didn't start to sing, but out of, you know, a need for a job to pay the rent. I wanted to be a classical actress, you know? Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov. And I couldn't get a job there so I entered a talent contest and got work as a singer.
KING: Did you always know you had that voice?
STREISAND: A little bit when I was a young girl. I kind of -- yes, I was the kid on the block with a good voice.
KING: Are you ever amazed at your own voice? You have an amazing voice.
STREISAND: I'm critical. I'm self-critical. So --
KING: Of the way you sing?
STREISAND: Well, I just never paid that much attention to it. And after I was doing this house, you know, I was singing and I had to record. I was singing with a kind of hoarse voice because I was talking over buzz saws everyday and dust and hammering for five, six years.
KING: I'll tell you a compliment, a Catholic priest told me once, you want to hear the best record of silent night? Streisand's record.
STREISAND: Wow. That is lovely, because last night, we were at a party and we were all singing "Silent Night." And I said to David Foster, I said -- because he played some beautiful chords. I said that, I remember chords that Peter Mats had written for the arrangement of "Silent Night" in the middle of Central Park on a hot summer night.
KING: Everyone should hear that recording.
STREISAND: It's on the happening of Central Park album, I think.
KING: Are you still very self-critical about your singing? You've told me in the past that you've always wondered, did I get?
STREISAND: I'm less perfectionistic about that.
KING: Why?
STREISAND: I don't know, because it's human. In other words, as a person gets older, their vocal chords get older and so I can't expect the same sound, you know? All the time. So -- but it is fun.
You know, the -- when you said before that I was up for a Grammy this year for "Love is the Answer," do you know, I love numerology because when I got my last Grammy, it was 24 years ago. I was born on the 24th. And I said that I had my son when I was 24, and my lucky number was 24. And the day that the Grammies were on, 24 years ago, I really didn't think I would win against Madonna, Tina Turner, Cindi Lauper and there was another person -- I didn't think I'd win, except for the fact that it was February 24th. The day of those Grammies. And I won for the Broadway album. And I said in that speech, you know, who knows? Maybe 24 years from now I'll be up for another Grammy. And here it is 24 years later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: See more of Barbra Streisand's interview with me tomorrow night. It's our next-to-last "LARRY KING LIVE" ever.
Then on Thursday, big hour planned with some surprises for you. And mostly for me. Time now for "AC 360."
