Radar Online
Ashley Judd, the daughter of famous country singer Naomi Judd who passed away last month after a long and hard-fought battle with mental illness, revealed her motherโs heartbreaking and tragic cause of death during a recent interview with Good Morning America, Radar has learned.
While speaking to ABCโs Diane Sawyer Thursday morning, Naomiโs 54-year-old daughter Ashley shockingly revealed that her mother passed away after taking her own life by way of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.

โShe used a weaponโฆa firearm,โ Ashley told Sawyer during Thursdayโs episode of Good Morning America. โSo thatโs the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing, but understand that weโre in a position that if we donโt say it someone else is going to.โ
โWhen youโre talking about mental illness, itโs important to distinguish between the loved one and the disease,โ Ashley continued after revealing she was only comfortable disclosing her motherโs cause of death in an effort to shed light on mental illness.
โMy mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish, and she was walked home,โ she added.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Naomi was found dead on Saturday, April 30, at 76-years-old.
Following rumors of Naomiโs passing, the country singerโs death was officially confirmed by her daughters Ashley and Wynonna in a joint statement to the Associated Press.

โToday we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,โ the statement read. โWe 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.โ
Although Naomiโs death was believed to have been the result of a suspected suicide, that claim was not confirmed until Ashleyโs revelation Thursday morning while speaking to Sawyer and Good Morning America.
Previously, Naomi spoke regularly about her ongoing battle with mental illness and how the disease nearly pushed her to the brink of suicide at least one time before.
โI knew exactly how I was going to carry out my suicide. I would drive my car to the very center, the highest point, and in one swift motion open the car door and climb over the railing,โ Naomi wrote in her enlightening albeit heartbreaking 2016 memoir River of Time. โIโd keep my focus on the beauty of the surrounding countryside, spread my arms out, and step off.โ

The country music superstarโs passing also took place just one day before she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame โ an honor that was ultimately accepted by her two daughters in her memory and on her behalf.
โOur mother couldnโt hang on until she was inducted into the hall of fame by her peers,โ Ashley said Thursday morning. โThat is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her, because the barrier between the regard in which they held her couldnโt penetrate into her heart and the lie the disease told her was so convincing.โ