Naomi Judd’s family says she was ‘harassed by an unjust enemy’ from PTSD and bipolar disorder as autopsy released

Legendary country artist Naomi Judd committed suicide, an autopsy report released Friday revealed, confirming several reports.

The report, obtained by the Associated Press, said the “Love Can Build a Bridge” singer died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in her Tennessee home on April 30. She was 76 years old.

The public filing also noted that Judd, who had spoken openly about his lifelong struggles with mental health, had prescription medications used to treat both post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder in his system. at the time of his death.

“We have always shared openly the joys of being a family as well as its sorrows. Part of our story is that our matriarch was harassed by an unjust enemy,” the family said in a statement to the AP. “She was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder, which millions of Americans can relate to.”

Debby Wong/Shutterstock Naomi Judd in 2018

Judd’s youngest daughter, actress Ashley Judd, revealed that her mother died of a gunshot wound in a May interview with Good morning Americaexplaining that she wanted to prevent the cause of her death from being made public without the family’s consent. Since then, her family has taken numerous steps to keep her death private, including filing a motion to seal the transcripts and recordings of the death investigation, which they say would cause “significant trauma and irreparable harm.” PEOPLE reports.

Judd died on April 30, just a day before she and her daughter Wynonna Judd — who with her mother formed the Grammy Award-winning duo the Judds — were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to mental illness,” the sisters said in a statement. posted on Ashley’s social media“We are devastated. We go through deep grief and know that just as we loved her, she was loved by her audience. We are in uncharted territory. »

In July, Ashley told the Healing with David Kessler podcast in which she hoped her mother would be able to “let go of any guilt or shame she carried for any flaws she may have had” as a parent “during her transition.”

“I look back on my childhood and realize that I grew up with a mother who suffered from an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness,” she said. “She engaged in behaviors, interactions, fantasies, choices that I knew were an expression of the illness. I understand that and I know she was suffering. I can understand now that she was absolutely doing the best she could and if she could have done things differently, she would have.”

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line to 741741.

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