This Judd's for You:
Ashley Judd gives the lowdown on growing up as a Judd, but no one of the Judds

By:Cindy Perlman

Ashley Judd is beautiful and smart, and she has kept her sense of humor. That hasn’t always been easy.

She remembers growing up as a Judd, but not as one of The Judds. “I remember when I was a teenager and my mother and sister were on the road in concert. I would flip over to David Letterman, where our family was his nightly fodder,” says the petite actress, sipping a cup of tea.

She winces and recalls, “Dave would say, “You know, my fantasy is to date the Judds. Hey, I bet you didn’t know that the Judds have another daughter, but she can’t sing. And she’s really ugly, and they keep her in the basement. Every once in awhile, they throw her down a canned ham.”’

“It was all this crazy stuff,” sums up Judd, who admits her feelings were hurt for another reason. “As a teenager, I had a crush on the guy, which just made it worse!”

Judd is having the last laugh. Let’s see. For starters, she’s gorgeous. It is true she can’t sing, but she’s gotten rave reviews for acting in “A Time To Kill” (1996), “Heat” (1995), “Kiss the Girls” (1997), “Smoke” (1995), “Ruby in Paradise” (1993) and “Double Jeopardy” (1999).

By the way, she doesn’t live in the basement. And she doesn’t even like canned ham. “Water and mushroom soup. Those are two of the keys to a good life,” says the down-to-earth Judd.

Like it or not, her movie star power shines through the minute she waltzes into the suite at the Four Seasons Hotel. All sparks and energy, Judd projects a quiet strength and intelligence that this town is not used to in its ingénues.

Mark Steven Johnson, who directed her in “Simon Birch,” marvels that she is “vivacious, strong and sexy.” Women’s magazines praise her “feisty spirit.” Interview Magazine dubs her “a young Elizabeth Taylor. She is lusty, opinionated and proudly hormonal.”

Speaking of which, she’s very hormonal in her March flick “Someone Like You,” costarring Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei and Ellen Barkin. Judd is a young talk show producer trying to find love in the rotten singles scene, where there are many more frogs than princes. “Love is the eternal quest that we all hope to get right someday,” says Judd, who seems to have found her way. She’s engaged to a handsome racecar driver. “It’s such a freeing feeling to find someone who is so right.”

Judd can appreciate the free part. During her short Hollywood heyday, she hasn’t had much downtime. She laughs and says, “At times, I was so busy it got to be about sheer survival, but I like a challenge.”

Judd is pretty good in the survival business. Born in Los Angeles, she grew up poor in Kentucky and Nashville, logging time in 12 schools in 13 years. Before her mother, Naomi, and sister, Wynonna, became the singing superstars The Judds, the three women struggled to cross the poverty level on a paltry nurse’s paycheck.

“Sometimes when we were growing up, we were so poor that our heritage was the only thing we had,” says Judd, who shares the family’s mantra at the time. “Mama would say, “Kids, pour more water in the soup. Better days are coming.”’

Did she feel deprived? “What hurt me was seeing my mother not being able to provide for us and how that made her feel,” explains Judd, who says the upshot was that the two sisters grew even closer.

She laughs at the memories. “Wynonna remembers picking on me a lot and says she feels bad now,” whoops Judd. She adds, “There’s no reason for her to feel bad. I picked on her, too.” She lapses into mock anguish and adds, “She would sit on me, and it hurt.”

And the younger sister’s revenge? Now, Judd is convulsing with laughter. “The only thing I could do is sock Wy in the boob. It was my only course of defense,” says Judd, who quickly states, “Really, we were more of a team than we were enemies.”

When Ashley was 14, Wy allowed her to drive. “We had a S57 Chevy. I remember one day, I was waving to a farmer in his field and ran off the road into a fence. Wynonna was always cool about things like that. She wouldn’t tell on me for driving the car if I didn’t tell on her for returning our canned goods to get spending money,” says Judd.

Her voice gets suddenly quiet. “Wy would take food back to the grocery store just so she could have a few extra dollars. Mom would go to make dinner and suddenly put her hands on her hips and say, “I thought I bought canned carrots.”’

And when Naomi Judd was working a double shift as a hospital nurse, the Judd sisters would turn their Kentucky home into the local hotspot. “We had a lot of parties. We collaborated! I loved it because Wy would invite all her high school friends,” says Judd. “One time, mom came back and I had the couch in the backyard. We needed more room to dance in the living room.”

Suddenly, the actress in Judd comes leaping out. “I went into the closet, put a scarf on my head and met my mother in the driveway to inform her that Wy and I were doing spring cleaning. Meanwhile, all the boys snuck out the back of the house into the woods.”

When Judd was 15, her mother and sister hit it big as country music superstars. Ashley insists she never felt left out of the hoopla.

“It’s funny, because as kids, I was encouraged to read and Wy was encouraged to sing. We were never competitive because we had individual interests. It was like, one kid plays soccer, and the other is on the debate team. I don’t know any more simple way to explain it.”

“As grown-ups, people just assume we’re competitive, but what we hope to articulate is that your identity is not about what you do. It’s about who you are.”

When the Judds were on the road, Ashley went to live with her father. During summers, she would spend time with her mother and sister on the road. “I was paid $10 an hour to sweep out the tour bus,” she says.

After Ashley graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kentucky, Naomi Judd thought her book-smart daughter would be an anthropologist. Surprise, surprise. Judd broke the news one day that she wanted to act. “Now, my mother says I was an actress since I was a girl, but I say, “No, no, no. Remember mother, acting is telling the truth!”’

One of her hobbies is traveling around the country to watch her favorite basketball team, the Kentucky Wildcats. Lately, though, there hasn’t been much time for hobbies since Judd has become one of the hardest-working women in show biz. She also has the guts and talent to hold her own with the likes of Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, to name a few past costars.

Is Judd ever nervous around these masters? She laughs. “I laugh now. When I did ‘Heat,’ I brought my wire-haired Jack Russell terrier named Goat to the set. The first time I met Al Pacino, Goat ran into the guys’ bathroom, and Al came out holding the dog and said, “Is anyone missing something?”’ Judd says, “He put the dog down, and she ran at his feet. This made poor Al bump into a garbage can. What an introduction!”

After such heady moments, Judd will return to the family homestead to regroup. She is very close with her mother and sister. “My mother and I agree to disagree, and it’s lovely. I don’t think parents and children can ever resolve all their differences. We’ve gotten to the point where we realize and acknowledge one another’s individual realities and understand that you don’t have an exclusive right to comment.”

As for her sister, well, no one is punching the other in the boob. At least, not anymore. Judd loves playing auntie to Wy’s son and daughter. “I love getting on the floor and playing with the kids,” she says, her eyes lighting up. “I do cannonball dives headfirst into Wy’s pool to make them laugh. I love it more than they do.”

But does she sing them to sleep? At least Letterman got one thing right. “I probably sing fine,” says Judd, laughing. “But I don’t care enough to want to find out.”

Source: Today's Chicago Woman

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