Naomi Judd took her own life April 20, 2022, with the use of a firearm, according to Thursday’s interview with Ashley Judd on “Good Morning America.”
“Mother used a firearm,” Ashley Judd said to Diane Sawyer during a videotaped interview. “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.”
Ashley painfully went on to discuss her mother’s mental health and declared that she wanted to speak on the topic before things “become public, without our control.” Ashley revealed that her mother’s final days were difficult ones.
“She obviously was suffering, and, as such, her days up until that moment – were hurtful to her,” Ashley said in the video.
On the day of Naomi Judd’s passing, Ashley visited her home in Tennessee. Her mother asked her if she would be willing to stay with her. Naomi was expecting a friend to stop by and Ashley let the visitor in.
“I went upstairs to let her know that the friend was there and I discovered her,” Ashley said in the video. (RELATED: Johnny Depp Describes Bloody Fights And Amber Heard’s Suicide Threats In Court)
As Ashley spoke, the painful struggle of coming to terms with her mother’s suicide was evident.
“We’re aware that although grieving the loss of a wife and a mother, we are, in an uncanny way, a public family,” Judd said during the interview. “So that’s really the impetus for this timing. Otherwise, it’s obviously way too soon. So that’s important for us to say up front.”
The interview focused on the deep effects mental illness can have on everyone involved and included tender moments of love and grief.
“Mom was a brilliant conversationalist … she was a star, she was an underrated songwriter,” Judd said in the video. “And she was someone who suffered from mental illness, you know, and had a lotta trouble getting off the sofa, except to go into town every day to the Cheesecake Factory, where all the staff knew and loved her.”