The shocking crime of Wynonna Judd’s husband
In 2007, Wynonna’s life would be changed forever after learning that her second husband, D.R. Roach, was arrested on child sex assault and battery charges. At the time, the couple had only been married for four years.
“My first response when it happened was, I am a mother first and foremost,” Wynnona told Ladies’ Home Journal (via People) after hearing the shocking details. Despite the news, Wynonna knew the type of man she married. She delivered a shocking confession saying, “I knew what I was getting into and I tried to change it.
I knew that both Roach and I had issues with addiction when I married him. I know my life. I know the people I chose, I know why I chose them and I really thought that I could change people through loving them enough. It doesn’t work that way.” Five days after Roach’s arrest, Wynonna filed for divorce. She claims that singular action “blew the door open to my soul.”
Years later in 2010, Wynonna appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and gave an update. She confessed to knowing Roach’s victim and explained the healing phase had begun for his or her family. “They’re in the [healing] process, and it’s none of my business,” she told Oprah (via CNN). “I had to separate from it or it would have killed me. I literally had to physically, emotionally and spiritually literally place them at the feet of Jesus.”
She adds that Roach was in recovery. “He’s sober, and that’s all that matters to me now,” she said. As for her personal life, she’s trashed anything that reminded her of Roach’s memory. “[I] haven’t forgotten, but I have forgiven,” she added. “Enough that I humanly can. I don’t wish him dead or anything like that. I just wish to be one of those people that doesn’t spend my life being defined by that.”
