Ashley Judd Recalls Being ‘Revictimized By Laws’ After Naomi Judd’s Death

Ashley Judd is remembering her mother, late country singer, Naomi Judd, after she took her own life in April.

Recently, new tragic details have been released about her death after her autopsy was made public. The findings of the reports have been painful for many fans to read, but even moreso for Ashley, who waited with her mother for up to thirty minutes waiting for paramedics to arrive.

Ultimately, the medical examiner concluded that the “Love Can Build A Bridge” singer had passed away from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Shortly after the op-ed was published in the New York Times, Ashley took to Instagram to condemn how she was forced to give interviews after her mother passed to satiate a curious public audience.

“Today, I pour my soul into describing the four interviews I was given no choice in doing the day our beloved mother died, and why such material should remain private for all families in the devastation the follows suicide,” she wrote. “We need better law enforcement procedures and laws that would allow suffering families and their deceased loved one more dignity around agonizingly intimate details of their suffering. Autopsies are public record. So are toxicology reports.”

“We have shared our story so openly, to raise awareness, reduce stigma, to help people identify, and make sure we all know we face mental illness together,” she continued, concluding her message by asking, “What more do folks want us to give of our grief?”

Sister Wynonna Judd took to Instagram to support her sister and shared a photo of the three of them side-by-side. “My sister has written an op-Ed for the @nytimes. WELL DONE, @ashley_judd,” she wrote in the caption. “I STAND BESIDE YOU AND WITH YOU IN THIS.”

“Prayers for you. It hurts my heart that you have to endure this on top of such a tragic loss. You are seen, supported, and appreciated by so many,” one fan wrote. “Those that loved and admired your mother don’t even want to read the details the gossip columns are trying so hard to obtain. She was beautiful, caring, talented, and admirable - and that’s all I will ever remember 💗.”

Other fans openly shared messages of support to the Judd family amid their public grief.

In the op-ed, Ashley begins by calling April 30, 2022, “the most shattering day of my life,” and touched upon her long struggle with mental health.

“As my family and I continue to mourn our loss, the rampant and cruel misinformation that has spread about her death, and about our relationships with her, stalks my days,” she wrote. “The horror of it will only worsen if the details surrounding her death are disclosed by the Tennessee law that generally allows police reports, including family interviews, from closed investigations to be made public.”

“Family members who have lost a loved one are often revictimized by laws that can expose their most private moments to the public,” she wrote, adding that she felt “cornered and powerless as law enforcement officers began questioning me while the last of my mother’s life was fading.”

Although the family has petitioned the court to keep the information regarding her death confidential, Naomi admits, “I don’t know that we’ll be able to get the privacy we deserve. We are waiting with taut nerves for the courts to decide.”

“We also need to reform the law enforcement procedures that wreak havoc on mourning families and then exacerbate their traumatic grief by making it public,” Ashley wrote, adding, “I hope that leaders in Washington and in state capitals will provide some basic protections for those involved in the police response to mental health emergencies. Those emergencies are tragedies, not grist for public spectacle.”

The full op-ed can be read in its entirety on the New York Times website by clicking here.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or go to 988lifeline.org.