Naomi Judd Suicide: Investigator Reveals There's 'Speculation She Didn’t Mean To Do It But Wanted Attention'
Jan. 18 2023, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A police report filed on the day of Naomi Judd's suicide is shedding more light into what went down in the 24 hours before she took her own life on April 30, 2022.
According to documents, Judd, who was 76 at the time, "didn't like being alone" in her Tennessee home, though she was forced to be by herself since husband Larry Strickland was off working in Europe.
"She threatened to kill herself a half a dozen times, guns were involved. She locked herself in her bedroom," the police notes, which were obtained by Radar, read. "She would threaten to shoot the people who took her [illegible]."
It was the singer's assistant who called daughter Ashley Judd, 54, to inform her Naomi was having a manic episode.
WYNONNA JUDD ADMITS SHE'S FEELING 'BROKEN AND BLESSED' MONTHS AFTER MOM NAOMI'S DEATH
"Ashley then called the family therapist, Dr. Ted Klontz, for help, telling him her mother "was screaming and speaking in tongues. After about 10 minutes she calmed down."
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After Naomi calmed down, Dr. Klontz and Ashley went downstairs to discuss her mother's condition. When Naomi was alone in her bedroom, she took her own life with a gunshot to the head.
When the actress found her, she applied pressured to the wound and held her until the ambulance arrived. Though she was still alive for a few minutes, she ultimately passed as doctors were unable to revive her.
As OK! reported, she left a suicide note that stated "do not let" her daughter Wynonna Judd, 58, "come to my funeral. She’s mentally ill." The country icon also excluded both of her children from her will, letting Strickland have say over her assets.
The investigator said Naomi may not have actually wanted to die, writing, "Speculation she didn’t mean to do it but wanted attention."
Wynonna attended the funeral anyway and "just has to continue to believe her mother did not mean what she wrote," an insider shared, pointing out that the late star suffered from depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress for years.