This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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An autopsy of Naomi Judd confirmed that the country music star died by suicide, which was previously reported by the Judd family, along with more details about her specific mental condition at the time of her death on April 30, 2022 at the age of 76.
The Williamson County medical examiner in Tennessee confirmed that the singer had a history of mental health struggles, including anxiety and depression, and that she left a “note with suicidal connotations” near the scene of her death.
A toxicology report signed by assistant Nashville medical examiner Emily Dennison also revealed traces of prescription medications used to treat “major depression” bipolar disorder and PTSD.
In response to that 13-page report, Judd’s family confirmed that Naomi was trying to manage her diagnoses of bipolar disorder and PTSD.
“We have always shared openly both the joys of being family as well its sorrows, too,” read the statement. “One part of our story is that our matriarch was dogged by an unfair foe. She was treated for PTSD and bipolar disorder, to which millions of Americans can relate.”
Following her death in April, just one day before Naomi was set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of the Judds, her daughters Wynonna and Ashley revealed her death on social media. “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy,” they wrote. “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.”
Judd’s family was recently granted a court order to keep her death records sealed from public record. Naomi’s husband Larry Strickland and two daughters Wynonna and Ashley filed for injunctive relief in Williamson County, Tennessee on Aug. 1 to protect their family’s privacy from the release of documents gathered by police who responded to the artist’s death, which they say depict Judd in a “graphic manner.”
The family has asked for prayers and thoughts for those who live with mental illness and their loved ones and provided a link to the 988 Suicide Crisis Lifeline.
(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
