Naomi Judd’s troubled granddaughter Grace Kelley debuts baby girl, 8 months, after early prison release on drug charges
NAOMI Judd’s troubled granddaughter Grace Pauline Kelley has debuted her 8-month-old baby girl by posting photos on social media after her early release from prison on drug charges.
Grace, 26, was arrested on August 28, 2021 for a probation violation stemming from a 2016 possession of meth arrest and was sentenced to be behind bars until March 16, 2024.
The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal she’s been released from prison early and has been reunited with her 8-month-old daughter.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Board of Parole told The U.S. Sun: “The Tennessee Board of Parole reached a final decision following Grace Kelley’s Dec. 12, 2022 parole hearing, recommending releasing her to parole supervision with the following post-release conditions: cognitive-behavior programming, substance abuse treatment programming, release to halfway house, and community service work until employed.”
She was released by the Tennessee Department of Correction on Dec. 29, 2022 and will remain under parole supervision by TDOC until her sentence expires.
BABY BEHIND BARS
The U.S. Sun previously reported Grace was pregnant in prison, as court papers revealed a Tennessee judge approved her furlough request, which is a temporary leave of absence, due to her pregnancy on March 25th, 2022.
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The court papers read: “Having received a request for the sentencing court’s approval for the Tennessee Department of Corrections to consider a furlough of the defendant due to her pregnancy, the Court hereby approves this request.”
Grace has posted photos of her daughter, Kaliyah Chanel, who is now eight months, on her public Facebook page.
Wynonna Judd’s granddaughter has blonde hair and blue eyes, as Grace typically dresses her up in darling bows.
In one Facebook photo, Kaliya is smiling while wearing a pink bow headband.
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In another, Grace is all smiles as she posed for a selfie while holding her daughter.
'SHE'S EXCITED'
Grace’s fellow jail inmate, Florence Fort, previously confirmed to The U.S. Sun that the famous granddaughter was expecting behind bars.
The U.S. Sun confirmed with a Williamson County Jail clerk that Florence was in the same facility as Grace from August to October 2021.
Florence, who owns Flo’s Housekeeping, claimed: “Grace got pregnant when she was out on parole. When I was at the jail with her, she was pregnant.
“She had her baby’s name picked out. She was excited.”
Florence continued that Grace's famous mom, Wynonna, seemed supportive of the pregnancy despite their previously estranged relationship.
She claimed: “She would call Wynonna all the time. She talked to her mom a lot. We even gave her a baby shower in jail and her mom called in the middle of it.”
Florence claimed Grace’s baby daddy is currently incarcerated as well.
A lawyer for Grace declined to comment at the time, while a rep for Wynonna did not respond to The U.S. Sun.
LEGAL TROUBLE
As The Sun previously reported, Grace was arrested back on April 30, 2020, for a probation violation in her 2016 meth case, and was sentenced to eight years behind bars.
She was granted parole at her April 19, 2021 hearing and released, as she was ordered to report to the Murfreesboro Probation and Parole Office.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Board of Parole previously told The Sun of her hearing: “The Board reached a final decision on April 22, 2021, recommending releasing her to parole supervision with post-release conditions.”
The conditions included substance abuse treatment, substance abuse aftercare referral and random drug screens.
The spokesperson explained: “Her home plan will need to be approved by the Tennessee Department of Corrections, then a parole certificate will be issued and then the Tennessee Department of Corrections will manage her release back to the community.”
But unfortunately, she was arrested on the parole violation that August.
DRUG CHARGES
The legal trouble started when Grace was arrested on June 14, 2016, and pleaded guilty to meth manufacture, delivery, sale and possession with intent on May 26, 2017, in Williamson County Court in Tennessee.
She was also charged with manufacturing and delivering meth in Maury County and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of possession of meth.
Grace was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in jail, which was suspended. The Williamson County and Maury County charges ran concurrently with each other.
The sentence was to be served on probation after completing 30 days behind bars.
Grace was released from Williamson County Detention Center on June 16, 2017, and she continued her sentence at a court-ordered drug program.
She was then sentenced to eight years at West Tennessee State Penitentiary in 2018 for breaking probation when she absconded from the 21st recovery court program.
Grace was released from prison five years early on November 8, 2019, after she was granted parole in the eight-year sentence.
'STRONGEST JUDD WOMAN'
Wynonna, 58, opened up about her daughter’s legal troubles in February 2020.
She said on The Pursuit! with John Rich: "I will tell you this. My daughter is the strongest Judd woman in our ‘herstory.’
“She’s healthier than I was at 23. How she got there - I would not go that way, but I was also sequestered.”
She continued growing up on a tour bus with her mom, Naomi: "I was on a bus with my mother. Kind of hard to get in trouble. That could have been me if I didn’t have music.”
Wynonna and Grace have had a rocky relationship through the years.
In 2013, Wynonna’s actress sister Ashley, 54, obtained temporary custody of Grace.
Wynonna is also mom to son Elijah, 28, with ex-husband Arch.
ICON'S PASSING
Naomi passed away at age 76 on April 30 from a mental illness, according to her daughters Wynonna and Ashley.
Wynonna and Ashley shared their mother’s passing over Twitter, as they wrote: “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.
“We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”
Ashley later revealed in a Good Morning America interview that she had died by suicide.
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The announcement of the passing came the day before The Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony.
Wynonna and Ashley attended the ceremony and accepted the honor on behalf of their mother.
