Country music star Naomi Judd died of self-inflicted gunshot wound, family say

Could 12 (Reuters) – Naomi Judd, matriarch of the nation music duo the Judds, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a day earlier than being inducted into the Nation Music Corridor of Fame, her household mentioned on Thursday.

Judd, 76, suffered from psychological sickness, a illness that tells victims “you aren’t liked, you aren’t sufficient, that you’re not worthy,” her daughter Ashley Judd mentioned in an interview aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“Our mom could not cling on till she was inducted into the Corridor of Fame by her friends. That was the extent of catastrophe that was happening inside her,” Ashley Judd, a 54-year-old actor, mentioned.

“She used a weapon. Mom used a firearm,” she mentioned of the dying, which was introduced on April 30.

Ashley Judd mentioned she was disclosing the reason for dying in a televised interview to keep up “management” over the knowledge earlier than it grew to become public, probably by way of leaks about Judd’s post-mortem.

The household’s revelation adopted information that the speed of U.S. gun deaths surged throughout the pandemic to the best level since 1994. Gun suicides – the main explanation for gun deaths – totaled 24,245 in 2020, the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention mentioned in a report printed on Tuesday.

Naomi and her daughter Wynonna Judd, 57, made up The Judds, the singing, guitar-playing duo inducted into the Nation Music Corridor of Fame on Could 1.

It was Ashley Judd who discovered her mom’s physique, just some minutes after they’d embraced throughout a go to at her mom’s Tennessee house. Ashley Judd mentioned she stepped exterior to satisfy a pal and when she got here again inside she discovered her mom upstairs.

“I’ve each grief and trauma” from discovering the physique, Ashley Judd mentioned.

The household urged anybody having suicidal ideas to achieve out for assist by calling the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York

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