Naomi Judd Death: Daughter Ashley Remembers Mother's Battle Before Chilling Loss

Earlier this year, the music community was shocked by the tragic loss of Country music star Naomi Judd because of mental illness.

Ashley Judd, one of Naomi's daughters, has recently opened up about how her mother battled her mental illness years before dying of suicide last April 2022.

Naomi Judd's cause of death was blurry days after her actual passing; the tragic reason was only revealed long after memorials for the country icon had been set up.

Ashley Judd Speaks Out On Her Mother's Death

Speaking to an episode of Healing with David Kessler, Ashley Judd processed her mother's passing by talking with prominent grief expert David Kessler.

Ashley, the youngest among the two, confessed that it had been difficult for her to know if her mother struggled when she was still a child.

Looking back, Ashley had only realized recently that she grew up with her mom, who has an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. (via Billboard)

According to the actress, Naomi had "different" behavioral expressions, interactions, choices, and even flights of fancy that she later on understood were "expressions" of the disease her mother was long untreated.

"I understand that and know that she was in pain and can today understand that she was absolutely doing the best she could, and if she could have done it differently, she would have," she highlighted.

Although the loss that came to the Judd Family could be described as "unimaginable," she admitted that there was a kind of "peace" that came along with the sinking news.

While she feels like as a daughter that she could "control" or "cure" the disease, she realizes as time goes by that she was not the actual "cause" of the destructive illness.

"My most ardent wish for my mother is that when she transitioned, she was hopefully able to let go of any guilt or shame that she carried for any shortcomings she may have had in her parenting of my sister and me," Ashley shared to the podcast.

Ashley Judd on Ending' Suicide' Stigma

Elsewhere in the interview, Ashley Judd, the daughter of Country music icon Naomi Judd, alluded to how people communicate "suicide."

For the "Ruby in Paradise" movie star, there's a huge difference between using "committed" and "died by suicide," favoring the latter's use as a better language.

"'Committed' [suicide] comes from this hierarchy of punitive transgressions, and committed to an institution or an asylum. And I believe that the person who suffers from mental illness, they are trying to have some relief or escape from something that perhaps we cannot fathom or conjure or imagine for ourselves, and how fortunate are we," she elaborated.

Naomi Judd died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Apr. 30, 2022, in Tenessee, struggling with depression, among many other mental illnesses.

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