We all know that Wynonna Judd’s life has been filled with heartache and tragedies. But now, her daughter’s tragic life has been exposed.
Grace Pauline Kelley is the 27-year-old daughter of Wynonna and Arch Kelley III. Grace has a brother named Elijah Judd. Wynonna and Arch did not have a happy marriage, and they divorced after only two years.
E! News reported on April 9th that the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department had arrested Grace in Alabama. She was charged with two misdemeanor crimes on April 5th, and what Grace allegedly did is unbelievable.
Police records obtained by E! News claim that the misdemeanor charges against Grace are indecent exposure and obstructing government operations. Here’s the real truth about what happened with Grace on that unfortunate day.
According to E! News, Grace was seen “at a busy intersection of Interstate 65 and Highway 14” in Millbrook, Alabama. Shockingly, it’s alleged that Grace “exposed her breasts and lower body” to oncoming traffic.
When Elmore County law enforcement arrived, police records stated that Grace would not follow their orders or identify herself. She just “sat down on the side of the road while refusing to comply with officers.”
E! News also reported that Grace’s first court appearance was scheduled for April 11. When the outlet investigated further, they discovered that Grace doesn’t even have a lawyer who could “speak on her behalf.”
Wynonna Rarely Discusses Grace’s Legal Troubles
Sadly, Grace has been in trouble with the law before. Six years ago, she was even sentenced to an eight-year prison term when she violated probation for another offense she’d committed.
In 2018, US News reported that Grace’s probation was “revoked,” and she was serving “an eight-year sentence at West Tennessee State Penitentiary.” Grace was convicted of using illegal substances in June 2016. She also faced a separate conviction for “evading arrest in July 2016.”
According to Radar Online, Grace pled guilty to manufacturing, delivering, selling, and possessing illegal substances in Williamson County, Tennessee, for those 2016 charges. In May 2017, a Tennessee judge made Grace pay over $3,000 in fines after she pled guilty to another possession charge.
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Wynonna is known as an outspoken woman in country music, but E! News said, “Wynonna has rarely discussed her daughter’s legal troubles.” So, what’s the real truth about Wynonna’s relationship with her troubled daughter?
Several years ago, Wynnona spoke to John Rich on his podcast, The Pursuit!, and tried to set the record straight. This sounds unbelievable now, but Wynonna claimed to John that Grace “is the strongest Judd woman in our ‘herstory.'” Wynnona also believed that her daughter was “healthier” than she was at 23.
Wynonna confessed that she escaped Grace’s “fate” because she had been “sequestered” on a tour bus with her mom, Naomi, when she was Grace’s age. Wynonna said it was “kind of hard to get in trouble.” She also admitted, “That could have been me, John, if I didn’t have music.”
Wynonna made shocking confessions to John about her relationship with her mom. An equally shocking article in OK magazine spilled the tea on the twisted Judd family dynamic.
Grace Wanted to Live with Her Aunt
OK magazine called Grace “Wynonna’s wild daughter,” and inside sources told the outlet that they had a “horrible relationship.” Allegedly, Grace grew up in a broken home and dreamed in vain of being “adopted by her Aunt,” Wynonna’s movie star sister, Ashley Judd.
The sources also claimed that Grace “constantly ran away” from home. As Grace reached adulthood, she “fled” to Ashley’s house because no one could stop her anymore. OK Magazine confirmed that Ashley took Grace in.
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Another “drama exploded” in the Judd family when Ashley allegedly claimed that Wynonna had hired a “private investigator” to plant a “tracking device” in one of Ashley’s vehicles that Grace had been allowed to drive.
This scandal became so loaded that Ashley shockingly took Wynonna to court. Ashley won “temporary custody of her niece” during a fragile time in Grace’s life when she was battling her dependence on addictive substances. Ashley’s heart may have been in the right place, but even she couldn’t stop Grace’s downward spiral.
Two years after she fled to Ashley’s house, Grace faced another arrest for “manufacturing and distributing” illegal substances. Sources with inside knowledge told OK Magazine that Grace’s tragic life was “heartbreaking to see.” They claimed, “The Judd family’s cycle of woe was repeating itself in the new generation.”
Grace Was Sent to a Behavioral Camp
Radar Online took another deep dive into Grace’s troubled past, including an incident that happened when Grace left “boarding school” to return home to Wynonna. But Grace never made it, and she allegedly “disappeared for days during a flight layover.”
This incident may have triggered a punishment for Grace. An inside source told Radar that Grace was sent to a “behavioral camp” for troubled youth a year after her disappearance.
Radar also alleged that Ashley “obtained temporary custody” of Grace after Grace accused Wynonna of “popping pills” and being abusive to her. Wynonna strongly denied those allegations.
As if this isn’t unbelievable enough, a Radar Online investigation confirmed shocking and heartbreaking details about Grace’s most recent arrest for indecent exposure. According to the Radar report, Grace was holding a sign that said “Ride for a Ride” when she was found unclothed on Highway 14 in Alabama.
Allegedly, Grace was in a “frenzy” because she was under the influence of substances. Radar cited a report in the New York Post that claimed Grace was spotted “near a Walmart in Millbrook, scantily clad and arguing with police officers about the legality of her actions.”
Later, Grace allegedly “caused a disturbance” at a gas station nearby. She began to complain to shocked onlookers that she had been the victim of a robbery.
At this point, a call was placed to law enforcement, but Grace took off from the gas station. She was finally located and brought into custody on Highway 14, minus her clothes and flaunting that disturbing sign.
Grace Has Been Stuck in Jail Since Her Arrest
The chief of Millbrook Police, PK Johnson, released a statement after Grace’s arrest. Chief Johnson alleged that Grace “argued” with his officers about the “legality” of what she was doing on the highway. Sadly, Chief Johnson claimed Grace said “it was not illegal for her to offer herself” in exchange for a hitchhike.
Grace’s mugshot from the April 5th arrest has also been published online. The shocking image presents another sad side to this story.
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One of Grace’s eyes looks swollen in the photo as she frowns at the camera. Her face appears bruised or smudged by dirt. Chief Johnson claimed that Grace “might not” have had illegal substances on her when she was arrested, but he added, “If you look at the booking photo… it hadn’t been long.”
Shockingly, an April 10th report by Radar Online confirmed that Grace had been “stuck in jail” for days following her arrest. Grace’s bail bond had been set at just $1,000, but no one in her family posted bail as she waited in a cell for her court appearance on April 11th.
