Music

Dolly Parton pays tribute to late friend Naomi Judd: 'Just know that I will always love you'

The country icon said Judd and her daughters were "like sisters to me."

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Published on May 3, 2022 04:28PM EDT

Dolly Parton is mourning the loss of her close friend and fellow music icon Naomi Judd, who died Saturday at 76.

In a moving Instagram post Monday, Parton wrote, "Naomi and I were so close. We were very similar. We were the same age and both Capricorns. We loved big hair, makeup and music." She added that Judd and her daughters, Wynonna and Ashley, had always been "like sisters to me."

Parton went on to congratulate Wynonna for her and her mother's induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday. "I am sorry I couldn't be there but I can hear Naomi saying now 'Oh well, a day late and a Dolly short,'" she wrote. "Congratulations and condolences are both in order. Just know that I will always love you."

Wynonna Judd, Dolly Parton, and Naomi Judd. Robin Platzer/Getty Images

At the induction ceremony Sunday, a tearful Wynonna gave a short speech honoring her mother. "I'm going to make this fast because my heart's broken, and I feel so blessed," she said. "It's a very strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed."

Naomi and Wynonna scored 14 No. 1 songs and won five Grammys as a mother-daughter duo known as the Judds. Naomi, who reportedly died by suicide, spent much of her life struggling with her mental health and was an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness.

Other fellow music artists who have paid their respects to Naomi Judd include Carrie Underwood, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Mickey Guyton.

Read Parton's heartfelt message to the Judd family above.

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