SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t caught up on the new show “Monarch” do not read any further.

In the new show on Fox, the family’s matriarch Dottie Roman (played by Susan Sarandon) is diagnosed with cancer. With only months to live, Dottie decides that she wants to die on her own terms.  The fictional country singer plans her own funeral and her eldest daughter Nicky (Anna Friel) is by her side in her bedroom when she takes a lethal dose of pills.

The storyline sounds eerily similar to that of The Judds, however, according to People, the story was finalized two years before Judd’s death.

Monarch executive producer Jason Owens told PEOPLE that the show was never intended to mirror the iconic family. “What feels like art imitating life is really just one of the strangest, saddest, eeriest coincidences I’ve seen.”

“Out of friendship, love and respect for the Judd Family, I called Wynonna and Greg Hill, [manager for the Naomi Judd Estate], to make sure they were aware of Monarch and its storyline well before it aired,” he added.

Read more here.

DFree/Joe Seer