Naomi Judd, matriarch of country music duo The Judds, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a day before being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, her family announced Thursday.
Judd, 76, suffered from mental illness, an illness that tells victims ‘you are not loved, you are not enough, you are not worthy’, his daughter Ashley Judd said in a broadcast interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“Our mother couldn’t hold on until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers. It was the level of disaster that was going on inside her,” said Ashley Judd, a 54-year-old actor.
“She used a weapon. My mom used a gun,” she said of the death, which was announced on April 30.
Ashley Judd said she was disclosing the cause of death in a TV interview to maintain “control” of the information before it became public, possibly due to leaks about Judd’s autopsy.
The family’s revelation follows news that the rate of gun death in the United States has risen during the pandemic to its highest level since 1994. Gun suicides – the leading cause of death per firearm – totaled 24,245 in 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report. published on Tuesday.
