Ashley Judd and Naomi Judd
Getty Images) (2)Ashley Judd remembers her deceased mother, Naomi Juddalmost two years after her suicide.
“I am here because I am the daughter of my beloved mother and on the day she died, which will be the two-year anniversary in a week, she lied about mental illness and, with great horror, convinced her that it would be so It’s never going to get better,” Ashley, 56, said during an appearance at the White House on Tuesday, April 23, sharing her story as part of the Biden administration’s newly created National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
Ashley sat on the stage next to the Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Vivek H MurthySuicide prevention activist Shelby Rowe and musicians Aloe Blacc.
Before continuing the conversation about mental health, Ashley shared a few words remembering her mother, who “left country music better than she found it.”
“She also lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and robbed her,” Ashley continued. “It stole something from our family, and they deserved better.”
Ashley Judd and Naomi Judd
Barry King/FilmMagicThe actress then shared her own experiences with “childhood depression” and reflected on how her life differed from her mother’s.
“I had a different experience because I sought treatment for unresolved childhood grief and sexual trauma in 2006 and have been recovering well for 18 years,” she said. “I have a different experience than my mother, and I carry a message of hope and recovery.”
Naomi died of a self-inflicted gunshot at her home in Tennessee on April 30, 2022, at the age of 76. Ashley and her sister, Wynonna JuddShe announced the news of her mother’s death on social media at the time. Ashley was the one who found her mother’s body.
Gone, but not forgotten. The country music world has lost many of its biggest and brightest stars over the years, from Naomi Judd to Loretta Lynn. The Judds singer’s daughters, Wynonna and Ashley Judd, announced that their mother died in April 2022 at the age of 76 after a long battle with depression. “Today we […]
“She used a gun…my mom used a gun,” Ashley further shared Good morning America in May 2022. “So that’s the information that we’re very reluctant to share, but we understand that if we don’t say it, we have the potential that someone else will.”
Since losing her mother, Ashley has been open about dealing with her grief.
“My mother’s death was traumatic and unexpected because it was a suicide, and I found her,” she shared on the “All There Is With Anderson Cooper” podcast in January. “And it had this catastrophic dynamic, my grief was in lockstep with the trauma.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call 988, text or chat at 988lifeline.org.