Ashley Judd's Lingering Trauma from Her Mother Naomi's Suicide: A Heartbreaking Re-Experience
Ashley Judd continues to grapple with the lingering trauma and shock of her mother Naomi Judd's suicide in April 2022, revealing the ongoing emotional impact it has had on her life
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Nearly two years after her famed mother Naomi Judd died by suicide, Ashley Judd is still feeling the trauma of her death.
Country music legend passed away at her Tennessee home on April 30, 2022 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 76. Her daughter, Ashley, was the one who discovered her body. Reflecting on the tragic event, Ashley revealed on the January 10 episode of the “All There Is With Anderson Cooper” podcast that her mother's death was a traumatic, unexpected and devastating experience for her, as she was the one who found her mother after her suicide.
Naomi and her daughter, Wynonna Judd, formed The Judds and achieved great success, earning five Grammy Awards and nine Country Music Association awards. However, Naomi battled depression for many years, even revealing that at one point it was so severe that she was unable to leave her couch for two years. These struggles were shared by Naomi during a December 2017 interview on the Today show.
"I even neglected basic hygiene like brushing my teeth and stayed in my pajamas all day," she said, adding "My husband and girlfriends would come over and I would just lock myself in my bedroom. It's like I couldn't move." During her conversation with Cooper, Ashley shared how she dealt with her mother's depression.
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During her interview with Cooper, Ashley expressed, "I believe that the loss of a parent is something we, in a way, expect to happen. I also understood that she was battling mental illness, and that she was in pain, and she was suffering."
The actress from Ruby in Paradise has been in recovery for the last 20 months following the passing of her mother. She turned to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for support in reducing the negative emotions tied to traumatic events, but the memory of finding her mother deceased still lingered.
"I experienced the initial shock of grief all over again, one year after my mother passed away. It would hit me unexpectedly while I was doing mundane tasks like washing the dishes or working on my second book, almost as if I had just walked into the room again," she recalled.
Ashley also cherished memories of her mother, particularly the warm welcome Naomi would give her whenever she visited the back porch of her Tennessee home.
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Without fail, she would rise from her bed, no matter how ill she felt," Ashley remembered. "And she would be radiant. She would go to the back door, open it, and cheerfully declare, 'There's my darling, there's my girl, there's my baby!' That's how I remember my mother." If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
