‘It was traumatic’: Ashley Judd shares heartbreaking moment she found her mother Naomi’s body

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ashley Judd has opened up about the devastating time when she discovered the body of her mother on April 30, 2022.

Naomi Judd died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at her Tennessee home in Leiper's Fork.

Reports have suggested that she suffered from "significant" anxiety and depression. She was also a bipolar disorder patient.

It was her younger daughter Ashley who found her.

Ashley Judd calls mother Naomi’s death ‘traumatic and unexpected’

The 55-year-old actress spoke about the tragedy on ‘All There Is with Anderson Cooper’ on Wednesday, January 10.

She told Cooper, as per Daily Mail, “It was traumatic and unexpected because it was death by suicide and I found her.”

Ashley continued, “Even when I walked in that room and I saw that she had harmed herself, the first thing out of my mouth was, ‘Momma, I see how much you've been suffering and it is okay... I am here, and it is okay to let go.’”

The ‘Double Jeopardy’ star also shared that she told the late celebrated country singer that “all was forgiven long ago, leave it all here. Take nothing, be free,” in the final moments before Naomi died.

Anderson Cooper mentions his brother’s suicide

Cooper then also talked about his grief after he lost his elder brother Carter Vanderbilt Cooper to suicide.

Carter was reportedly 23 when he died in 1988.

The journalist stated, “One of the things I have found so hard about losing my brother to suicide was, that I get stuck in how his life ended and the violence of it.”

Ashley understood what Cooper was feeling as she added, “I really honor the place in you that’s coming from. I think we all deserve to be remembered for how we lived, and how we died is simply part of a bigger story.”

Naomi Judd ‘had prior suicidal ideations’

Naomi was 76 when she died.

Her autopsy report mentioned that the actress “had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and was transported to Williamson Medical Center where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.”

It further stated, “Per family, the decedent has had prior suicidal ideations and recent life stressors. A weapon and a note with suicidal connotations were found near the decedent at the scene.”

The official document also asserted that the gunshot “perforated through the right side of the scalp and entered the skull through an entrance-type gunshot wound.”