Naomi Judd's Final Days: Daughters Reveal Heartbreaking Struggles After Suicide

Wynonna Judd Allegedly Blocked Her Daughter
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for CMT

Nearly four years after country music legend Naomi Judd died by suicide, her daughters, Ashley and Wynonna Judd, continue to grapple with the emotional aftermath and family challenges.

Naomi Judd, who passed away on April 30, 2022, at age 76, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a prolonged battle with mental health issues. At the time, the family released a statement saying, "Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory."

An autopsy later revealed Naomi had several prescription drugs in her system, prescribed for bipolar disorder and PTSD.

Ashley Judd, 58, was the one who found her mother shortly after the incident. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Ashley described it as the "most shattering day" of her life and admitted that memories of "holding her laboring body haunts" her.

The source told the outlet that Ashley has undergone "intensive therapy" to cope with the trauma. The source added, "Ashley was with Naomi that fateful day and still wrestles with the knowledge she was unable to stop her mother from harming herself. She still blames herself."

Wynonna Judd, 61, also shared her pain publicly. In a social media post, she admitted, "The pain of losing Mom to suicide is so great I often feel like I'm not ever going to be able to fully accept that she left the way she did."

Wynonna struggled not only with her mother's death but also with strained family relationships over the years. A friend told RadarOnline, "This was Juddland, for better and for worse. There were good times, but there were also times when Wynonna wasn't talking to Naomi, or wasn't talking to Ashley because of various feuds. It's filled Wynonna with regret that things could have been better in her family. She realizes you don't know what you have until it's gone."

Despite past conflicts, Wynonna expressed a renewed bond with Ashley during an appearance on the "Today" show.

"We love each other, and we show up for each other. We don't agree on much, but we support one another. And we agree to disagree. We've had some tough conversations lately about what are we gonna do now that we have each other," she said.

Ashley added insight into their relationship by noting, "We don't have to be congruent in order to have compassion. That's a really important grace that family members can, hopefully, learn to give each other."

Tags
Wynonna Judd, Suicide

© 2026 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Join the Discussion