In Naomi Judd’s final moments, as daughter Ashley collapses upon revealing she’s found the star’s body

NAOMI Judd was found dead by her devastated daughter Ashley, who discovered the star’s body during a trip home to visit her mother.

The music legend took his own life at the age of 76 late last month after years of mental health struggles.

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Ashley told GMA Wednesday she visited her mother’s home in Tennessee.

She said: “I visit my mom and dad every day when I’m home in Tennessee, so like every day I was visiting the house.

“Mom said to me, ‘Will you stay with me?’ and I said, ‘Of course I will.’

“I went upstairs to let her know her good friend was there and I spotted her. I’m both sad and traumatized to have discovered her.”

Ashley also revealed that Naomi died from complications from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and told host Diane Sawyer she “used a firearm.”

She added: “She used a gun, my mum used a gun.

“So that’s the information that we’re very uncomfortable sharing, but understand that if we don’t say it, we’re in a position where someone else will.”

Judd’s daughters, Ashley and Wynonna, had announced their mother’s death, calling it a “mental illness”.

“Today we sisters witnessed a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to mental illness. We are devastated,” the sisters wrote on Instagram.

“Navigating deep sorrow, we know that she was loved by her audience just as we loved her. We are in uncharted territory,” they added.

Judd’s death came the day before mother-daughter duo The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on May 1.

Ashley said on Thursday: “Our mother couldn’t hold out until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers.

“That is the magnitude of the catastrophe of what was happening inside her because the barrier between the respect she was showing her couldn’t penetrate her heart and the lie the illness was telling her was so compelling.”

Wynonna had told the audience at the Nashville ceremony, “I didn’t prepare anything tonight because I knew Mom would probably do the most talking.

“I’m doing this quickly because my heart is broken and I feel so blessed. It’s a very strange dynamic to be so broken and so blessed.”

“I’m sorry she couldn’t make it through to this day,” added a crying Ashley.

BATTLE OF MENTAL HEALTH

Judd had detailed her struggle with mental health in a heartbreaking interview before her death.

In a 2016 interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Judd revealed the “completely debilitating and life-threatening” depression she was battling.

Judd also documented her struggles in her book, River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope.

When asked why she was willing to speak publicly about her struggle, Judd said, “Because what I’ve been through is extreme.”

“Because it was so deep and so completely debilitating and life threatening and because I’ve worked and processed so hard over the last four years.”

Judd recalls thinking, “If I’m going through this, I want someone to see that they can survive.”

CHILDREN’S FIGHT

The singer said her struggles stemmed from being abused by a family member as a child.

“I think that’s one of the reasons I wanted to write the book … because I never acknowledged all the bad things people did to me,” she said.

Judd didn’t have any immediate family members there to support her, she said, so she only had to rely on herself.

“I had to recognize that in a way, that I had to educate myself,” Judd said.

“We all have this inner child and I had to realize for the first time in my life that I got a bad deal, OK, I’m a big girl now. Put on your big girl pants and take care of it.

“I started therapy, and I call it radical acceptance,” she said. “I trained every day.”

“DARK HOLE OF DEPRESSION”

In 2017, Judd said in an interview with TODAY that “I haven’t gotten off my couch in two years.”

“I was so depressed I couldn’t move. My husband and girlfriends and Ashley came over and I just went upstairs and locked the door to my bedroom.”

Judd added that she even contemplated suicide.

“It can get that bad,” she added.

“It’s hard to describe. You go into this deep, dark hole of depression and you don’t think there’s another minute.”

She said one time her family called 911 in the middle of the night to get her the help she needed.

Through various treatments and therapies, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), Judd said she was able to stabilize.

“One of the things that happens with depression is that I’ve had a lot of tragedies throughout my life … and you just keep pushing it down, you just keep pushing it down and suddenly one day when you don’t deal with it this starts to come out sideways .”

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAMER

The mother-daughter performers scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades.

After rising to the forefront of country music, they quit in 1991 after doctors diagnosed Naomi Judd with hepatitis.

The Judds’ hits included “Love Can Build a Bridge” (1990), “Mama He’s Crazy” (1984), “Why Not Me” (1984), “Turn It Loose” (1988), “Girls Night Out” ( 1985), “Rockin’ With the Rhythm of the Rain” (1986) and “Grandpa in”. 1986

Originally from Kentucky, Judd was working as a nurse practitioner when she and Wynonna began singing together professionally.

Their unique harmonies, along with elements of acoustic music, bluegrass and blues, made them stand out from the genre at the time.

The Judds released six studio albums and one EP between 1984 and 1991 and won nine Country Music Association Awards and seven from the Academy of Country Music.

With hits like “Why Not Me” and “Give A Little Love” they won a total of five Grammy Awards.

The Judds sang about family, the belief in marriage and the virtue of fidelity.

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

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