‘Mom used a weapon’: Ashley Judd chokes up as she reveals her mother Naomi ‘used a firearm’ to kill herself last month after battling mental health issues aged 76
- Naomi Judd killed herself using a gun, her daughter Ashley has revealed
- ‘She used a weapon…a firearm’ Ashley shared
- The actress found Naomi, 76, moments after her death on April 30
- Naomi died the day before her Country Music Hall of Fame induction
- Her death followed a longtime battle with the disease of mental illness
Country Music Hall of Famer Naomi Judd killed herself with a gun, her daughter has revealed.
‘She used a weapon…a firearm,’ heartbroken Ashley Judd shared in an interview with Good Morning America. ‘So, that’s the piece of information we’re very uncomfortable sharing.’
Naomi, the Kentucky-born singer of the Grammy winning duo The Judds – mother of Wynonna and Ashley – died aged 76 on April 30 after a longtime battle with the disease of mental illness.
Ashley, who was visiting Naomi’s Tennessee home on the day she died, recalled her last moments with her mother.
‘It was a mixed day,’ Ashley revealed. ‘I was at the house visiting, as I am every day, and mom said to me ‘will you stay with me?’ and I said: ‘Of course I will.’
The actress stepped outside to greet a family friend. When she went to notify her mother that their guest had arrived, she found her dead.
‘I went upstairs to let her know that the friend was there and I discovered her,’ Ashley shared. ‘I have both grief and trauma from discovering her.’
The actress, sharing the details of her mother’s death before the release of her autopsy report, reiterated that Naomi was ‘entitled to her dignity and her privacy’ and they will not be disclosing anything else.
Country Music Hall of Famer Naomi Judd (right) killed herself with a gun, her daughter has revealed. Naomi is picture wither her daughters Wynonna (left) and Ashley (center)
‘She used a weapon…a firearm,’ heartbroken Ashley Judd shared in an interview with Good Morning America. ‘So that’s the piece of information we’re very uncomfortable sharing’
Naomi took her own life the day before she and Wynonna were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
‘Our mother couldn’t hang on until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers,’ Ashley shared in the GMA interview, which aired Thursday.
‘That is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her, because the barrier between the regard in which they held her couldn’t penetrate into her heart and the lie the disease told her was so convincing.’
Despite the family’s immense grief, Wynonna attended the induction ceremony on May 1.
‘I didn’t prepare anything tonight because I knew Mom would probably talk the most,’ Wynonna told the audience attending the Nashville ceremony.
‘I’m gonna make this fast, because my heart’s broken, and I feel so blessed. It’s a very strange dynamic, to be this broken and this blessed…. Though my heart’s broken, I will continue to sing, because that’s what we do.’
Ashley discovered Naomi shortly after she killed herself. The singer died at her home in Franklin, Tennessee (pictured) on April 30
Wynonna Judd and Naomi Judd are pictured at the 2022 CMT Awards on April 11
Naomi struggled with her mental health for many years, having previously admitted to undergoing electro-shock therapy and considering suicide in recent years.
‘When you’re talking about mental illness, it’s important to make the distinction between the loved one and the disease,’ Ashley said. ‘My mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish and she was walked home.’
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