Naomi Judd’s new talk show will examine pop culture, spirituality

BEVERLY HILLS - After spending much of her life as the subject of interviews, Naomi Judd is turning the tables.

On her new weekly talk show, Naomi’s New Morning, which debuts at 10 a.m. Sunday on the Hallmark Channel, she is the one asking the questions.

“I feel like my whole life, I’ve been preparing for this,” she told a gathering of television critics back in July. “You guys have been interviewing me for 20 years.”

In the series, Judd will bring together diverse groups of people to discuss various topics. Her guests will include celebrities, scientists, medical ethicists and everyday people.

“It is a talk show; it is a magazine show,” she said. “And this is an ‘inner-view’ show.”

When she was coming up with the idea for the series, she said she wanted to “see how pop culture in our society affects our beliefs and our values systems.”

“I also get to travel in all 50 states and look in the nooks and crannies of this fascinating country,” she said. “Because I’m a storyteller, I want to bring people who are real folks, the standard-issue folks, on and figure out how they’ve had amazing transformations.”

The premiere episode opens in Franklin, Tenn., where Judd lives. It includes segments on Dr. Dean Ornish, the author of the healthy-lifestyle book Eat More, Weigh Less; same-sex relationships; a look at Hurricane Katrina survivors who are trying to rebuild their lives; and a small Iowa town where Hassidic Jews have become part of the community.

Judd said she plans for the show to examine spiritual issues.

“I like the word ’spiritual,’ don’t like the word ‘religious’ so much,” she said. “I feel that religion really divides and separates us.

“I think the situation is that you’re actually a spiritual being having a human experience, and this is definitely going to be a voyage of self-discovery. I’m going to take you to the edge, and I’m going to give you multiple-choice questions.”

Judd said her spiritual journey began”15 years ago, when the Mayo Clinic told me I had less than three stinking years to live.”

She had been found to have hepatitis C, a potentially fatal virus that attacks the liver. At the time, she and daughter, Wynonna, were country-music stars. Judd was forced to retire from the music business, but she did not give up.

After various treatments, Judd’s hepatitis has been cured and she is a spokeswoman for the America Liver Foundation.

Judd isn’t surprised that she was able to beat the disease.

“Of course, I said, ‘No way. I’m going to live to see the day that Wynonna does not blame me for all of her problems.’”

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