Heartbreaking: Ashley Judd Chokes Up as She Reveals Country Music Legend Naomi Judd’s Manner of Death

Ashley Judd was choking back emotion in a new interview as she made her first public comments about the death of her mother, Naomi Judd.

Naomi, 76, took her own life on April 30, one day before she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame with her other daughter, Wynonna, as part of the legendary country music group The Judds.

Ashley Judd, an actress, spoke about her mother’s death and the mental illness that slowly conquered her during an interview that aired on “Good Morning America.”

“I’m tasked with an exceedingly difficult task in disclosing the manner of the way my mother chose not to continue to live. And I’ve thought about this so much because once I say it, it cannot be unsaid and so — because we don’t want it to be a part of the gossip economy — I will share with you that she used a weapon,” Ashley Judd said.

“Mother used a firearm, so that’s the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing, but understand, we’re in a position that, if we don’t say it, someone else is going to.”

Ashley Judd said her mother “knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish and that she was walked home. She was walked home.”

“When we’re talking about mental illness, it’s very important to be clear and to make the distinction between our loved one and the disease.

“It’s very real, and it is enough to — it lies. It’s savage and, my mother — our mother — couldn’t hang on until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers,” Ashley said.

She said the disease of mental illness warped how her mother viewed the world and how she viewed herself.