Ashley Judd’s poignant account of holding her dying mother

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LOS ANGELES, Jan 10: Ashley Judd has shared heartfelt insights into the final moments she spent with her late mother, Naomi Judd, in an interview with Anderson Cooper on his grief podcast “All There Is.”

Reflecting on the loss, Ashley expressed, “The death of a parent is something for which we conceptually have some kind of preparation. And I also knew that she was walking with mental illness and that her brain hurt and that she was suffering, but that didn’t necessarily prepare me.”

Discussing the traumatic event, Ashley, whose mother Naomi Judd passed away in April 2022 at the age of 76 due to mental illness, revealed, “My mother’s death was traumatic and unexpected because it was death by suicide, and I found her. … I held my mother as she was dying.”

During those poignant moments, Ashley shared, “I’m so glad I was there … the first thing out of my mouth was, ‘Mama, I see how much you’ve been suffering and it is OK. It is OK to go. I am here. It is OK to let go. I love you. Go see your daddy. Go see Papa Judd. Go be with your people.'”

On Cooper’s podcast, she elaborated on the conversations she had with her mother, stating, “I repeatedly told her that she could ‘be free’ and that ‘all is forgiven.'”

Opening up about her journey through grief, Ashley acknowledged the waves of trauma but mentioned that eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has been instrumental in helping her cope.

During the emotional interview, Anderson Cooper, who lost his brother Carter Cooper to suicide in 1988, tearfully expressed his struggle with the manner of his brother’s death, feeling like he “didn’t know him.”

In an effort to understand her mother more fully, Ashley has engaged with various individuals who knew Naomi Judd in different capacities. She shared, “I’ve met with everyone from her mother’s physicians to her bandmates to grasp a wider picture of her loved one.”

In response, Ashley Judd provided a profound perspective, stating, “I think we all deserve to be remembered for how we lived, and how we died is simply a part of a bigger story.”

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