Ashley Judd Remembers Late Mom Naomi in Mental Health Speech Nearly 2 Years After Her Death

Ashley Judd is remembering her late mother, Naomi Judd, nearly two years after she died by suicide.

"I'm here because I am my beloved mother's daughter and on the day she died, which will be the two-year anniversary in one week, the disease of mental illness was lying to her, and with great terror convinced her that it would never get better," Ashley, 56, said during an appearance at the White House on Tuesday, April 23, sharing her story as part of the Biden Administration’s newly formed National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.

Ashley sat on stage alongside United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, suicide prevention activist Shelby Rowe and musician Aloe Blacc.

Before continuing the conversation on mental health, Ashley offered a few words to remember her mother, who “left country music better than she found it.”

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“She also lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and stole from her,” Ashley continued. “It stole from our family, and she deserved better."

The actress went on to share her own experiences with “childhood depression,” reflecting on how her life differed from her mother’s.

“I had a different experience because I went to treatment in 2006 for unresolved childhood grief and sexual trauma and I've been in good recovery for 18 years,” she shared. “I've had a different outcome than my mother and I carry a message of hope and recovery.”

Naomi died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 76 in her Tennessee home on April 30, 2022. Ashley and her sister, Wynonna Judd, announced the news of their mother’s death via social media at the time. Ashley was the one who found her mother’s body.

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“She used a weapon … my mother used a firearm,” Ashley shared on Good Morning America in May 2022. “So 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.”

Since losing her mother, Ashley has been open about navigating her grief.

“My mother’s death was traumatic and unexpected because it was death by suicide, and I found her,” she shared on the “All There Is With Anderson Cooper” podcast in January. “And, so, it had this calamitous dynamic, my grief was in lockstep with trauma.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.