- Wynonna Judd has been married to her husband, Cactus Moser, since 2012.
- Just months into their marriage, Cactus had to have his leg amputated following a motorcycle accident.
- Before Cactus, Wynonna was married twice more — to Arch Kelley III and D.R. Roach
Wynonna Judd has been married multiple times, but she’s finally found her happily ever after with her third husband, Cactus Moser. The two have been going strong since their 2012 wedding, and he was heavily featured in the singer’s April 2023 documentary, Wynonna Judd: From Hell to Hallelujah. In the two-hour special, Wynonna opened up about how Cactus supported her in the aftermath of her mom, Naomi Judd’s, death in 2022. She credited the drummer with being the reason she was able to go through with the tour that she and Naomi had planned before the 76-year-old died by suicide. On that same note, Cactus gushed over the important role that Wynonna played in his life following a horrific motorcycle accident in 2012.
Life has not been easy for Wynonna, even before her mother’s death. When she was 30 years old, she found out that her sister’s father was not also her biological father. She also developed a food dependency addiction, witnessed her daughter go to jail and has had a rocky relationship with sister, Ashley Judd, over the years. Plus, she went through two divorces in the public eye.
Now, she’ll be receiving accolades for her remarkable and brave lifetime achievements. On September 28, 2023, she’s set to be the country champion award recipient at the People’s Choice Country Awards. “Wynonna is one of the most recognized and lauded performers in country music,” said Cassandra Tryon, senior VP of entertainment live events for NBCUniversal TV, per PEOPLE. “Not only is she incredibly talented, her selflessness and passion for putting the needs of others in the spotlight is unmatched.”
Keep reading to find out all about Wynonna’s current marriage to Cactus, as well as the previous two men who called her wife, below.
Arch Kelley
Wynonna met her first husband Arch Kelley in 1993 and married him in January 1996. The couple were already parents to son Elijah, born in 1994. The couple also welcomed a baby girl, Grace, who ran into trouble with the law as an adult and was sentenced to 8 years in prison after violating probation. Wynonna and Arch divorced in 1999.
D.R. Roach
D.R. Roach was Wynonna’s longtime bodyguard before they got hitched in 2003. Four years later, he was arrested on child sex assault and battery charges. “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,” she confessed after the arrest to Ladies’ Home Journal (via People) “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 the arrest, Wynonna filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences and named the charges against him on her website. “I am obviously devastated. Our family will pull together, begin the healing process and hopefully — by the Grace of God — become stronger. We will move forward with our faith, family and our friends to find resolution to this difficult situation,” she said. “I’m now focused on saving myself and the children. It is hard to detach overnight. I’m healing in my own time. And so I do wear my ring. And I think what I’m teaching my kids is, This happened. This is where Mom is right now. And there’s always hope.” Roach was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Cactus Moser
Wynonna wed Cactus Moser, the drummer for Highway 101, in June of 2012, with only her children and her new husband’s children present, per US Weekly. “I didn’t want it to be about anyone but Cactus and me,” Wynonna said about not inviting her mother or sister. “Because to me, at the end of the day, it’s the children, Cactus, and me. I was so concerned about making this feel special for them, everything fell away.” In her 2023 documentary, Wynonna gushed, “Marrying Cactus was one of the greatest days of my life because I’ve never trusted someone and loved someone so simultaneously like I love Cactus.”
Cactus also appeared in the doc. He revealed that he proposed to Wynonna on Christmas Eve, which she said was “perfect,” adding, “It was on the farm, just the two of us.” Then just two months after their June 10 wedding, the newlyweds were riding on separate bikes when Cactus’ bike crashed into an oncoming vehicle. “He’s just laying there and I hear nothing,” Wynonna recalled to ET. She was in total shock until she heard “the most beautiful sound on earth,” which was Moser attempting to breath, signaling that he was still alive. The accident resulted in his left leg being amputated above the knee.
“I lived through the night, which was a miraculous story,” Cactus said in the doc. “Two months into getting married, she had to become a nurse. There’s a lot she had to do. It’s horrid. That’s kind of our thing — even in the worst of times, we can figure out how to get past it and find a happy place.”
Through Cactus, Wynonna has three stepchildren: Sunshine, Cal and Wyatt. “This family is everything to me,” she shared. “I have three bonus children, as well as two of my own. Cactus and I have blended our family together and it’s awesome.” She also said that having a home base with her family is what helps her when she’s on the road. “This family that I come home to is everything to me,” Wynonna said. “It keeps me going and fills me up with joy and gives me purpose.”
