Ashley Judd says she and sister Wynonna are grieving Naomi Judd in their 'respective ways'

Ashley Judd has changed her perspective on the grieving process amid the death of her mother Naomi Judd in April.

The actress, 54, opened up about how she's coping with her loss in comparison to her sister Wynonna Judd and stepfather Larry Strickland on Tuesday's episode of the "Healing with David Kessler" podcast.

She noted that each of her family members have "really given each other the dignity and the allowance to grieve in our individual and respective ways."

"We can be at the same supper table and recognize, 'Oh, this one's in anger, this one's in denial, this one's in bargaining, this one's in acceptance, I'm in shock right now,' " Judd said of their different processes. "We don't try to control or redirect or dictate how the other one should be feeling at any particular moment."

Previous: Ashley Judd reveals mother Naomi Judd's cause of death

Judd admitted it took some time to accept their varying versions of grief. "I had to let go of this controlling notion that yours needs to look like mine. I mean, that's really egocentric, isn't it? All my feelings are valid and appropriate by virtue of being mine, and everyone else's feelings are valid and appropriate by virtue of being theirs, and I don't need to add anything or take anything away from another person's experience," she reflected.

Judd and Strickland have gotten particularly close since the country legend's death. The "Someone Like You" star shared that after her morning routine and reflecting, Strickland, who married Naomi Judd in 1989, typically comes over. They live next door to one another.

"Pop comes over and I make his coffee and his breakfast and we sit and we grieve together," she said. "And that looks like different things on different mornings — he might cry, I might cry, we might just talk. I gave him a journal one morning and now he's got his practice of writing and I mean, it's just those times are so holy and we may be in slightly different places and yet we're in community."

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Her sister, singer Wynonna Judd, is in a "different place" with her grief, she said. The pair recently spent time together where they "talked about mom" and "social issues."

"We don't have to be congruent in order to have compassion for each other and I think that that's a really important grace that family members can hopefully learn to give each other," she said.

Judd also looked back on her childhood with Naomi, who died by suicide, and said," I realize I grew up with a mom who had an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness."

She said she understands now that her mother "was absolutely doing the best she could, and if she could have done it differently, she would have."

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Judd added that she hopes her mom knew she was "forgiven long ago" and "let go of any guilt or shame that she carried for any shortcomings she may have had in her parenting of my sister and me."

The actress revealed her mother's cause of death in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" that aired May 12.

She referred to her mother's mental condition prior to her "choosing to not continue to live" as related to a "catastrophe going on inside of her."

“She was very isolated in many ways because of the disease,” she continued. “And yet there were a lot of people who showed up for her over the years, not just me."

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If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741741. 

Contributing: Marcus K. Dowling, Tennessean; Melissa Ruggieri, Ryan Miller, USA TODAY; Steven Petrow, columnist

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ashley Judd discusses 'individual' grief after Naomi Judd's death