Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Courtesy of Ashley Judd/Instagram
Who Is Ashley Judd’s Father? Meet Michael C. Ciminella Amid New Lifetime Docuseries
Ashley Judd‘s complicated family history is explored in the new Lifetime docuseries The Judd Family: Truth Be Told. Life and Style takes a closer look at the actress’ dad, Michael C. Ciminella.
Who Is Ashley Judd’s Father Michael C. Ciminella?
Michael was born in Kentucky in 1945. He married Naomi Judd in 1964, when the future country superstar was 17 years old. He raised Naomi’s daughter Wynonna Judd as his own, believing she was his child. Wynonna was born Christina Claire Ciminella in Ashland, Kentucky, on May 30, 1964.
Michael and Naomi welcomed daughter Ashley in April 1968 after moving to Los Angeles. The former couple divorced in 1972.
What Does Ashley Judd’s Father Michael C. Ciminella Do for a Living?
Michael is a businessman who has worked in marketing an advertising.
Michael C. Ciminella and Naomi Judd Had a ‘Sad’ Wedding
Ashely described her parents’ wedding in heartbreaking detail in her 2011 memoir, All That Is Bitter and Sweet.
“On January 3, 1964, Mom and Dad were married in a sad ceremony in a Baptist church in Virginia, where nobody knew them, so shamefully regarded was the occasion. Mom borrowed a navy blue suit from her mother. The only guests in attendance were both sets of parents, who were barely on speaking terms, blaming each other’s children for ruining their dreams,” she wrote. “The photograph from that day is one I can bear to look at only briefly; it is steeped in melancholy.”
“They had married too young and for the ‘wrong’ reason — namely, the unplanned pregnancy that produced my older sister, Christina (you know her as Wynonna), when Mom was only seventeen. It was a typical story of the time: high school girl becomes pregnant and ‘has’ to marry her teen-age boyfriend,” Ashley continued.
“But there was a twist,” Ashley shared, revealing her father wasn’t Wynonna’s dad and he didn’t know that fact when he married Naomi.
“When I came into the world four years later, my family’s troubled and remarkable course had already been set in motion, powerfully shaped by my mother’s desperate teenage lie and the incredible energy she dedicated to protecting it,” the Double Jeopardy actress wrote, revealing she and Wynonna wouldn’t find out the truth until decades later.
Naomi Judd Did Not Have Kind Things to Say About Michael C. Ciminella
Naomi recalled how she only married Michael in order to give Wynonna a father and have a place to live after the “No One Else on Earth” singer’s biological dad dumped her.
“I got pregnant the first time I had sex,” Naomi recalled during a 2020 appearance on Candy O’Terry’s “Country Music Success Stories” podcast about her liaison with Wynonna’s father, Charles Jordan. “Three months later, when I called him to tell him to say I thought I was pregnant, he said, ‘Well, tough luck, kiddo,’ and he hung up the phone and we never heard from him.”
Naomi said she “had to marry the town jerk to have a roof and a name.”
Ashley Judd Is Very Close to With Father Michael C. Ciminella
The Kiss the Girls star recalled how her dad rushed to be by her side in Africa after she nearly lost her leg during a 2021 accident during a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“My beloved Dad, who had gotten the text no parent ever wants: ’emergency, can’t answer questions, please come now,’ had indeed, because he is vaccinated, been able to come to South Africa,” Ashley revealed in a February 22, 2021, Instagram post. “He has been my rock, companion, resource, helped me listen to so many doctors, critical support system, and kind, loving presence as I have wept and wept.”
Michael helped accompany Ashley on four flights lasting a total of 22 hours to get his daughter back to the United States, where she underwent surgery to save her leg.
“I’m very thankful to all of the experts, including that expert pictured, my Pop, who is rubbing my foot to remind my foot while it still cannot move that it is connected to my body. I am up and around already. Thank you for your care and kind words,” the University of Kentucky graduate added.
Wynonna Judd Claimed Michael C. Ciminella Didn’t ‘Like’ Her
“I knew that Michael didn’t like me and mom didn’t really love him,” Wynonna shared in the Lifetime docuseries The Judd Family: Truth Be Told, which premiered in May 2025. Her biological dad, Charles, died in 2000 at age 56, and Wynonna never met him.
What Happened to Naomi Judd?
Country legend Naomi died by suicide on April 30, 2022, after a years-long battle with mental illness and depression. She was 76 years old.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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