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The headline is a little vague so I should clarify. Wynonna Judd’s daughter, Grace Pauline Kelley, 22, pled guilty to meth possession and to evading arrest in May, 2017. She was charged with manufacturing meth with the intent to distribute, but only pled to the lesser charges. On the possession charge she was sentenced to 11 months and 30 days in jail, but only had to serve 30 days with the remainder of her sentence suspended to probation. For the evading arrest charge she got a four year sentence that was suspended as long as she went to rehab for 180 days. So basically she got 30 days in jail, 180 days in rehab and four years probation. Only Grace skipped out on rehab and now has to serve an eight year sentence for violating probation.
Wynonna Judd‘s daughter, Grace Pauline Kelley, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
PEOPLE confirms the 22-year-old, whose father is Judd’s first husband Arch Kelley, is currently behind bars at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning, Tennessee, and has been serving her jail time since April.
Kelley’s release date is August 10, 2025, but she is eligible for parole on February 4, 2019.
A rep for Judd did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Kelley was sentenced to prison for leaving a court-mandated drug recovery program, violating her probation, according to Radar Online, which also reported that her arrest was issued in November 2017.
A friend of mine has a drug-addicted son around this age. She has bonded him out of jail so many times, and has left him there a few times hoping he’ll sober up. He’s currently missing and unless he gets taken into custody within the next few months (which is likely, given his history), she’s on the hook for thousands of dollars. More than that she hopes he’s ok. It’s heartbreaking to have an adult child with addiction issues, and as we’ve seen from Cameron Douglas and Redmond O’Neal, this transcends family background and wealth. (Although of course having more money and influence means that offenders have more chances to avoid consequences.)
I hope that, for Grace’s sake, spending time in jail helps her break the cycle of addiction. There are no easy answers, but many advocates tout the successes of drug courts for addicts instead of the traditional court system.
Grace’s father is Wynonna’s first husband, Arch Kelley. In 2007, Wynonna’s second husband of four years, her former bodyguard Daniel Roach, was convicted of attempted aggravated sexual battery against a minor under 13. In an interview on Oprah, Wynonna did not reveal Roach’s victim but said that it was someone she knew and that “It’s their story [to tell] when they’re ready to talk.”
photos credit: WENN, Getty and via Daily Mail
So sad, what a mess. I’m not all that familiar with the Judds but I heard Winona on a podcast maybe a year ago and she seemed kinda out of it. I hope the daughter gets clean and that she’ll come out with a strong support system to help with her sobriety.
To sum up this family in a word — Dysfunctional.
It may take going to jail to help her get on a better path.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and question whether or not Grace was one of Daniel Roach’s victims. Because I’m sure he didn’t only have one. Close to 90% of incarcerated women were sexually abused before they were incarcerated.
I would believe it.
Numbers are probably high for incarcerated men as well.
And? Thanks for pointing that out, but this article is about a woman. Whataboutism isn’t needed.
Sexual use of children is a cancer that rots society. It always has been, and it applies to both boys and girls. Failing to see that keeps it hidden, allowing it to thrive and be passed on.
I don’t read Agenbiter’s comment as whataboutism.
Me neither, Agenbiter was just pointing out that a lot of men in jail come from similarly haunted pasts. We can acknowledge men also and it doesn’t take away from the women. Calm your horses Anon.
Anon33- her being a woman isn’t essential to the story. Nothing off-topic pointing out that boys can be and are molested also and that it can affect the likelihood of wanting to escape into drugs.
They are. My husband is a social worker who works with addicts in the prison system. He’s Tells me 95% of the men he deals with were raped or molested as young boys.
Yes. I said the same thing yesterday.
So tragic. My heart goes out to all of them.
I hope she gets clean in prison and has help sorting out her issues. Something is seriously wrong there.
So sad. I have a funny Judd story from the late 80’s. I was in collage, staying with my mom in a hotel. Me and a couple of my friends were coming back from dancing and decided to take a late night swim at the hotel. There was a group in the jacuzzi, and they invited us over for some cerveza. Mind you, I had no idea who they were as I hadn’t heard their “Why Not Me” Diddy so at the time we were simply a group having some fun after midnight at a hotel. It was the band and Wynonna. I realized at a later date how popular they were, and then they catapulted to fame. I will say, all three of the Judd ladies come with a lot of baggage and emotional terrain to traverse, and it’s not shocking their children have had a hard time. I hope she can work through this, and come out of it in one piece.
Wynonna did an in-store at Borders years ago. She stayed longer than her allotted time to meet and actually talk to her fans.
That is so sad. But honestly, it’s so easy to get drugs in jail. She will get clean when she’s ready to get clean. 8 years? Damn.
Most of it was probation originally.
Doesn’t 8 years seem like a lot for skipping out on rehab?
…maybe try reading the article again?
8 years is for the ORIGINAL offense; she was given the opportunity to go to rehab to lessen the sentence. She bailed. Hence, you serve the original time given. That’s how it works.
When I re-read it, it says she got 4 years which was suspended if she did 180 days in rehab. Then she got 8 years when she violated her probation. I can’t see where the original sentence was 8 years?
Her first sentence sounds like a gift. But to spend your 20s in prison? I’m not sure who could overcome that.
She’ll be up for parole in Feb. of next year so hopefully she won’t do anything to ruin her chances, and once out do anything to ruin her parole, sending her back to finish that time. What a sad situation.
I know a guy who spent 8 years in jail and came out and married, became a counselor, became a devout Christian and goes to the prisons to counsel others. He’s still got a wild streak and struggles to keep on the right path though so reform is possible but hard. I lost track of him though so I don’t know how that story ends.
Hopefully prison will be an opportunity for her to get her act together so that she can go on and live a happier life.
I imagine her original sentence was long because she was making the stuff to sell, even though nominally half of it it was for resisting arrest. Her lawyers did the switch to lower the sentence and probably avoid a felony? But the judge knew the rest, might have affected which end of the range he or she decided to use unless it was just an incentive for her to stay in rehab long enough.
Meth isn’t weed. It’s really dangerous, both to make and use.
Still the sentence is short compared to many others. What a dummy to violate her probation. Maybe she wanted to go to prison, though, unless she mistakenly thought she could pull a Lindsay Lohan and get a lot overlooked. But even Lindsay ended up locked down in rehab eventually.
Some people just need a long timeout, away from friends and situations that drew them into trouble in the first place. But prison often does the opposite, they make new bad friends and maintain their addictions.
If she’s the exception and comes out clean and ready to stay clean, she’ll hopefully also do all right once out of prison because her family has money and connections. But other people typically have trouble getting and keeping decent jobs because of their prison record. We really need to look more closely at how other countries with more success do it. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world now, I think, and we’ve been at the top or near the top for many decades. Drug-related incarcerations are a major part of the total.
just terrible and I feel for all of them.
now, does anyone else see Tilda Swinton in the photo with royal blue top and dark hair, or do I need more coffee?
Now that you mention it….
There is no action on the part of an adult that is going to change the child’s addiction. The addict has to choose. I do wonder, if a parent models sobriety, if that lessens a child’s addictive tendencies? I’m sober and never told my kid I was a user and recovered without rehab. My kid so far is an athlete, up early and eats well. So far no signs of being the addict like me. It is heartbreaking, and I wish there was an answer!!!
Ah, that sucks.
This is sad, especially given the family history. The 2nd husband was a monster…