Naomi Judd’s Cause Of Passing Confirmed By Daughter Ashley Judd

Published on May 12, 2022.

(AP Photo/John Amis, File)

Ashley Judd has opened up about the tragic passing of her mother Naomi Judd.

Less than one month after Naomi Judd passed the age of 76, her daughter Ashley has confirmed that her mother’s death was by suicide. “She used a weapon … my mother used a firearm,” Ashley shared on Good Morning America on Thursday. “So that’s the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing, but understand that we’re in a position that if we don’t say it someone else is going to.”

Judd opened up to Diane Sawyer about her mother’s battle with mental health. “My mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish. She was walked home,” Ashley said through tears.

“When we’re talking about mental illness, it’s very important to be clear and make the distinction between our loved one and the disease. It’s very real. It lies, it’s savage. My mother, our mother, couldn’t hang on until she was inducted into the Country Hall of Fame by her peers. I mean, that is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her. … The lie that the disease told her was so convincing. … [The lie] that you’re not enough, the lie that you’re not loved, that you’re not worthy. Her brain hurt. It physically hurt.”

Ashley and Wynonna Judd  announced the tragic passing of their mother via Twitter on April 30. Wynonna Judd sang with her mother as part of the award-winning country duo The Judds.