Country music legend Naomi Judd's cause of death revealed as suicide: report

Naomi Judd's cause of death has come to light. The Grammy-winning country star, known for her work as one half of the mother-daughter duo the Judds, died by suicide Saturday at 76, after struggling with mental illness for much of her life, according to PEOPLE. Multiple sources reportedly confirmed the news.

A representative for Judd did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment Monday.

Judd's daughters Ashley and Wynonna announced her death over the weekend in a statement to the Associated Press. "Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness," they said. "We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory."

Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Naomi Judd

An outspoken advocate for mental health, Naomi Judd opened up about her struggles with suicidal depression in her 2016 book River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged With Hope. She also wrote an open letter about suicide for Mental Health Awareness Week in 2018.

"To understand this issue better, we have to bring the study of suicide into mainstream neuroscience and treat the condition like every other brain disorder," she wrote. "People who commit suicide are experiencing problems with mood, impulse control and aggression, all of which involve discrete circuits in the brain that regulate these aspects of human experience, but we still don't understand how these circuits go haywire in the brains of suicide victims."

Naomi and her daughter Wynonna recently reunited on stage at the CMT Music Awards, in what was their first TV performance in 20 years. They were also set to perform on a 10-date, nearly sold-out arena tour, The Final Tour, which was scheduled to begin in September. The Judds, who scored 14 No. 1 hits on the country music charts between 1983 and 1991, were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, and Wynonna and Ashley gave tearful speeches at the ceremony.

"I'm going to make this fast because my heart's broken, and I feel so blessed," Wynonna said. "It's a very strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

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