“She lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and stole from her, and it stole from our family, and she deserved better,” the actress said the late country star, who died by suicide in April 2022.
Ashley Judd is opening up about her mom Naomi’s battle with mental illness nearly two years after the country singer tragically died by suicide.
While giving a speech at the White House for the Biden Administration’s National Strategy for Suicide Prevention plan launch on Tuesday, the actress detailed her late mother’s lifelong struggles with mental health, saying that Naomi’s “untreated and undiagnosed” mental illness “stole from her” and their family.
“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,” said Ashley, 56.
After reflecting on her mom’s remarkable life, including leaving “country music better than she found it,” Ashley said that despite Naomi’s success and accomplishments, “she lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and stole from her, and it stole from our family, and she deserved better.”
Ashley went on to get candid about her own struggles with mental health, which she said stemmed from a difficult childhood.
“I was molested by a man for the first time that I remember when I was seven years old,” she explained, “and that’s when I had onset of childhood depression, and I know the feeling of not wanting to be here, but I had a different experience because I went to treatment in 2006 for unresolved grief and sexual trauma.”
“I’ve been in good recovery for 18 years and I’ve had a different outcome than my mother,” she added. “I carry a message of hope and recovery.”
Ashley shared several posts from her appearance at the White House event on her Instagram Stories, including a photo holding up a sign about the launch.
“Today, the Biden Administration unveiled the new National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the first ever Federal Action Plan,” she wrote over the photo.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention is a “10-year, comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to suicide prevention and provides concrete recommendations for addressing gaps in the suicide prevention field,” which hasn’t been updated “in over a decade.”
“This coordinated and comprehensive approach to suicide prevention at the national, state, tribal, local, and territorial levels relies upon critical partnerships across the public and private sectors,” SAMHSA added. “People with lived experience are critical to the success of this work.”
The plan “identifies more than 200 actions across the Federal government to be taken over the next three years in support of those goals.”
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Anderson Cooper Breaks Down Talking to Ashley Judd About His Brother’s Suicide, Her Mom’s Death
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Naomi Judd passed away in April 2022 at age 76. Ashley and Wynonna broke the news via Instagram, sharing, “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.”
“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.”
While appearing on the All There Is with Anderson Cooper podcast in November, Ashley and Anderson Cooper opened up about navigating the tragic loss of loved ones who died by suicide. (Cooper’s brother, Carter, died in 1998.)
“My mother’s death was traumatic and unexpected, because it was death by suicide, and I found her,” Ashley shared. “My grief was in lockstep with trauma because of the manner of her death, and the fact that I found her. I held my mother as she was dying, and there was blood, and I just needed to process the fact that I was with my mother’s blood.”
“I’m so glad I was there because even when I walked in that room, and I saw that she had harmed herself, the first thing out of my mouth was, ‘Mama, I see how much you’ve been suffering,'” she continued. “‘And it is okay to go. It is okay to go. I am here. It is okay to let go. I love you.'”
Ashley added that she got in bed with her mother, and held her. “[I] said, ‘Let it all go. Be free. … All was forgiven long ago. Leave it all here. Take nothing with you. Just be free,'”
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (just dial 988) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress.
