Ashley Judd Reveals Mother Naomi Died From Shooting Herself

Ashley Judd has shared the cause of her mother Naomi Judd’s recent shocking death on April 30. Sisters Ashley and Wynonna Judd initially just said their mother died “to the disease of mental illness,” but decided to clarify the cause further in this new footage.

Ashley told Good Morning America was speaking on behalf of her sister and stepfather and wanted to get ahead of the news “before things about the 30th of April become public without our control. Whether it’s the autopsy or the exact manner of her death.”

Through tears, the late singer’s youngest daughter said she first wanted viewers to know, “My mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish and that she was walked home.” She also said it was important when discussing mental health “to make the distinction between our loved one and the disease. It’s very real… It lies, it’s savage.”

She used the example that her mother couldn’t even make it to be honored at the Country Music Hall of Fame as an example of the depths her depression could take her. “Our mother couldn’t hang on until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers. I mean that was the level of catastrophe that 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 that the disease told her was so convincing,” Judd said.

Judd emotionally shared her mother’s manner of death and reiterated she was only doing it, “because we don’t want it to be a part of the gossip economy.” She then said “mother used a firearm,” to end her life. Ashley also revealed that she was at her mother and stepdad’s house when it happened and she discovered her. “I have both grief and trauma from discovering her,” Judd said.

She also implored anyone experiencing similar feelings as her mother to “talk to someone, to share, to be open, to be vulnerable.”

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Is Available 24 Hours At 1-800-273-8255