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This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," June 25, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Joining us by phone from her tour bus is another great star, another great singer, Wynonna Judd.
Wynonna, thank you for joining us. And what I said is, indeed, especially for your business. You have lost a real genius in your business.
WYNONNA JUDD, SINGER: I do a lot of interviews. By the way, how are you doing? I do a lot of interviews about this very kind of thing where we're losing our legends. I've been speaking a lot about it lately. I live a couple of hours from Memphis. This is the 50th anniversary of Motown. And I visited Motown a couple of weeks ago. We're losing our legends. I think the reason I'm calling in is just what saddens me today is that we're spending so much time on all the drama -- what he had done. I really am calling in to celebrate who this child star was and is to me as an artist.
VAN SUSTEREN: It is sort of interesting, Wynona, in some ways some people see though those legal problems as an explanation about why he withdrew and stopped creating. Not, you know, I think different people look at it different ways.
JUDD: Sure. That's why this is America and we all have our right to our voice and our opinion. That's why I'm weighing in. I just think -- when I met Michael back in the 1990's, Dick Clark introduced me to him and Elizabeth Taylor. I walked away with a real picture, snapshot of who I thought Michael was in that moment that I got to spend with him, and that is, I can't imagine being that famous. I'm friends with Marie Osmond. We talked about being a child star. I was 18 years old. Elvis was 18 when he signed with RCA. I was 18. But I can't imagine growing up in the limelight, sitting on a tour bus and a hotel room, looking out on the world and watching it go on without us, in a sense. Elvis, the same thing. He was sort of a prisoner of his own fame.
It is tragedy and triumph at the same time. We look at this bigger than life -- I just heard a gentleman say he had just met Walt Disney. He was bigger than life. You can have everything, yet nothing at all if you don't have personal peace. And that's what I'm in recovery for.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is it -- is it fun to be a big star? Do you like it?
JUDD: Absolutely. Absolutely. I love a parade wave. I love a moment of -- you know, Mom and I just sang together last week in Fanfare in Nashville. 50,000 fans singing back to you your music, it's rippling out into the earth. You see the fans, the emotional connection that fans have with the artist. We are the backdrop of their every day lives.
So I'm weighing in about the artistry and the dedication. And the sadness for me today -- I don't watch the news. I got a text from a friend saying Michael Jackson had died. It was a similar kind of reaction as when Princess Di passed. I remember where I was, what I was doing. Today is one of those days where I just stopped and said, wait a minute, this man was 50 years old.
I feel we all have a responsibility in this. And it's really interesting how we love to look into other people's lives to see what they are doing and not doing right and judge them when you do not have to look at yourself. And I just remind everyone that he dedicated his life to his fans and he never gave up.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you have a favorite Michael Jackson song?
JUDD: Gosh, that's a really -- probably "Thriller," because of the magnitude of it. I don't remember the year, but I remember being a lot younger, a lot (INAUDIBLE). I just remember watching him from the side of the stage one night at an awards show in just absolute awe of his gifts. We must not forget that. We have all made mistakes with our personal lives. There is tragedy there. But there is an awful lot of history and a lot of incredible moments of greatness that we must not forget, and we will not forget.
VAN SUSTEREN: Wynonna, thank you very much. Calling in from your tour bus, we appreciate it. Thank you, Wynonna.
WYNONNA: You're welcome, my dear.
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