Naomi died in April
The 54-year-old actress continued: “And yet we’ve been able to completely stick together. So we can be at the same supper table and recognize, ‘Oh, this one’s in anger, this one’s in denial, this one’s in bargaining, this one’s in acceptance, I’m in shock right now.'”
Ashley also shared her own process, admitting that she focuses on her own mental health in the mornings by reading and writing and meditating.
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Her ‘pop’ Larry Strickland, Naomi’s husband, lives close by and she revealed how he comes over for coffee and they have breakfast and “grieve together”.
She also detailed how she gave him his own journal and “now he’s got his practice of writing and I mean, it’s just those times are so holy and we may be in slightly different places and yet we’re in community”.
Ashley with her mom
Naomi, 76, was found dead by Ashley in April, who later revealed that her mom died from a self-inflicted firearm wound.
“She used a weapon. My mother used a firearm,” Ashley heartbreakingly told GMA. “So that’s the piece of information we are very uncomfortable sharing.”
Speaking of Naomi’s struggles with her mental health, Ashley added: “Mom was a brilliant conversationalist. She was a star. She was an underrated songwriter, and she was someone who suffered from mental illness and had trouble getting off the sofa.
“She was very isolated in many ways because of the disease, and yet there were a lot of people who showed up for her over the 2years. Not just me.”
Naomi was 76
Naomi’s death was announced by her daughters Wynonna and Ashley, in a statement via The Associated Press. It read: “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.”
Naomi last performed at the CMT Awards in March with Wynonna, 57, with the mother-daughter duo making their first televised appearance as The Judds in over 20 years.
Following her death, country music stars including Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, and Maren Morris took to social media to pay their respects.