VIP: Naomi Judd spreads cheer in 'Wonderland'

"I'm happier than I've ever been," Naomi Judd, 67, says. "It has to do with perspective. As you get older, hopefully, you become a detective in your own life. You look at clues to see how you made it through.

Once I realized that the only person I can change is myself, I gained a lot of freedom. Now I try to be like a fireman. I come when I'm called."

When the Hallmark Channel called and offered her a role in the romantic holiday movie Window Wonderland, premiering Nov. 23, she accepted.

"Acting is so challenging and so stinking fun," Judd says. "In this film I play a bathroom attendant. It's a clever script with a big surprise ending."

And, as much as she loves acting, Judd does still sing oncle in a while.

Since 1991, when Judd was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and stopped touring with her daughter Wynonna, she has focused on investigating such subjects as physics, neuroscience and the human genome.

"I'm outrageously healthy," she says, "but I very rarely sing. It's my choice. I'm on the road all the time because of my (motivational) lectures. I was at Vanderbilt University the other day talking to my friend Dan Roden, (Assistant Vice Chancellor for Personalized Medicine), and I sang Happy Birthday to one of the staff."