Join a grief-stricken Ashley talking about your mother Naomi JudoD’s death So that his family can share the information on their own terms.
The country music superstar – who was part of the Grammy-winning duo The Judds with his daughter Winona Judd – died in April, days before being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She was 76 years old.
Ashley Judd Tells Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” on Thursday that her stepfather and Winona Judd had “deputed” her to speak on behalf of the family “before things of April 30 become public without our control.”
She said, “I have been entrusted with a very difficult task of revealing the way my mother did not continue to live.”
Ashley Judd confirmed that her mother had died by suicide.
“This is the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing,” she said. “But understand that we are in a position that if we don’t say it, someone else is leaving.”
She indicated that she was conscious of what information she had chosen to make public.
“I want to be very careful when we talk about this today, to talk to someone with those thoughts or those impulses, to share, to be open, to be vulnerable, ” He said.
Ashley Judd told Sawyer that her mother – who revealed she had depression In 2016 – “Knew that she was seen and that her suffering was heard.”
“When we are talking about mental illness, it is very important to be clear and differentiate between your loved one and the illness,” she said. “It’s so real… it’s a lie, it’s barbaric.”
Ashley Judd also shared that she was with her mother the day she died and was the one who “discovered her.”
“I have both grief and trauma,” she said.
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The Emmy-nominated actor also shared sweet details about the type of mom his mom is, including how he got to know the workers at his local cheesecake factory.
“I know everything about him because he told me everything about him,” Ashley Judd recalled. “either [she’d tell me about] Dwanye at Walgreens who needs to get a dog was just like that. She always carried hundred dollar bills in her bra and she was sending them to the watchmen. You know, just an unfailingly kind, sensitive woman. ,
She called her mother a “superb conversationalist” and “an underrated songwriter”.
Ashley Judd also shared a letter written by Winona Judd, who wrote that she needed time for herself to “process” her loss.
If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from Crisis Text Line. outside the US, please For a database visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention of resources.
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