Naomi Judd dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound, Ashley Judd reveals

The young Judd appeared in an interview with Diane Sawyer, which aired Thursday on “Good Morning America.” She said that her family had agreed that he share the cause of her mother’s death.

“He used a gun,” Ashley Judd said. “A firearm. So that’s information that we feel very uncomfortable sharing.”

She and her sister Wynonna Judd announced on April 30 that they had lost their mother “to mental illness.” She was 76 years old.

Ashley Judd said she and her family wanted to shine a light on mental illness, explaining that it’s “important to make the distinction between the loved one and the illness.”

Judd said the family reluctantly shared the cause of death before it was otherwise made public. He also revealed that she was the one who discovered her mother, who had spoken openly about her battle with depression, after it happened.

“I have both pain and trauma from discovering her,” said Judd, who began the interview by thanking everyone for the support she and her family have received in the wake of her grief.

The matriarch died the day before she and her daughter Wynonna, who made up the country music duo The Judds, were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Ashley Judd said her mother “couldn’t take it” to be recognized by her peers.

“That’s the catastrophe level of what was going on inside of her,” Judd said. “Because the barrier between the look they had her in couldn’t penetrate her heart and the lie the disease told her was so convincing.”

The Judd sisters attended the ceremony and honored their mother.

CMT will air a televised memorial for Judd on Sunday.

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