Ashley Judd Blames Grief For Fractured Leg 'Freak Accident'

Actress Ashley Judd and singer Wynonna Judd lost their mother Naomi Judd earlier this year after she took her own life after a long struggle with depression.

Both Wynonna and Ashley have been opening up about the grief they faced after their mother's passing in recent months, but it seems that not all of their pain is emotional.

Ashley blamed "clumsiness" as the result of her grief for her "freak accident" that left her with a fractured leg.

On Wednesday, the “Double Jeopardy” actress was taking part in an Open Mind lecture and conversation series hosted by the Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA (via The Hollywood Reporter.)

She told UCLA professor Dr. Jonathan Flint about the injury she sustained over the summer, which happened two years after she fell while hiking in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In February 2021, she tripped over a fallen tree and shattered her leg in four places, which led to a dramatic rescue and several months of recovery.

Fortunately, Ashley told Flint that the recent fracture she sustained over the summer was “healed in two months, lickety-split,” adding, “It was what it was.”

“Clumsiness is associated with grief, and there were other people in our family, after mom died, who fell down stairs and had accidents, and that’s just what mine happened to look like,” she said. “It really allowed me to grieve. It really allowed me to stop what I was working on at that moment and to grieve.”

Ashley also thanked her friends and family for checking in on her and offering her a support system in her grief.

“The day that my beloved mother died by suicide, I had so many people to call. There were five women who were with me within moments of my sharing that tragic news with them, and they are my chosen sisters,” Ashley explained. “I was just reflecting overnight. I had one of my 2 a.m. wake-ups overnight, and I was reflecting on those first days after her passing and how there was always someone with me at my house.”

The ”High Crimes” actress is still working through the grief with the lessons that she has worked on with her “wisdom teacher” over the past few months.

“I just spent some time with my wisdom teacher today, and there’s a lot going on in my life right now. We’re approaching the [six] month anniversary of my mom’s passing and my sister’s on tour,” she said, referring to her sister, Wynonna. “I’m seeing two of the concerts this weekend, which brings up a lot of deep poignancy, both joy and sorrow.”

The “Ruby in Paradise” actress, now 54, also admitted that she has put on weight since her mother’s death, but described it as a “temporary condition” that will fix itself in time.

“I’ve put on some weight and I’m sure people are talking about it but I don’t pay any attention to it because I know it’s a temporary condition and the weight will come off when it’s supposed to. It’s none of my business what people think of me,” she said.

“It is absolutely none of my business. I have a healthy boundary about it but I also know that misogyny is a real thing in our culture,” she continued. “You try being a once ultra-fit woman who’s 54 and put on some weight. That is going to spark some very sexist conversations by both men and women and others in our culture.”

She added that growing up in the public eye has forced her to establish clear boundaries, saying, “Thirty-three percent of the people are going to love me no matter what I do, 33 percent of the people don’t really care, and 33 percent of the people aren’t going to like me no matter what I do. Globally, it’s none of my business what other people think of me.”

“My core values are really set with my most intimate friends, my closest advisors — like a spiritual director or a sponsor/mentor-type of person who knows me and knows my heart and knows my soul — and the rest of it is just static,” she added. “That’s really what I’ve learned by being in the media — I can’t take care of myself and another person’s feelings at the same time.”