Ashley Judd is paying tribute to her late mother, Naomi Judd, after The Judds’ induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame Sunday night. Sharing a series of photos and videos on Instagram from the ceremony, as well as moments from throughout her family’s time together, Ashley Judd shared a message of gratitude for all the fans who have sent their love after her mother’s death.
“Speechless,” she wrote in her caption. “In beloved community with my big sister, gazing at the new bronze plaque inducting @thejuddsofficial @wynonnajudd into the @officialcmhof.” She continued, explaining of the photos and videos she included, “listening to #grandpa, my altar to mama, with her silhouette from when she was 11, my bereft Pop @larrystrickland7 singing How Great Thou Art for me on my sleeping Porch (we are singing hymns this evening).”
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Ashley also posted a throwback photo with mom Naomi and sister Wynonna Judd “on Little Cat Creek in Lawerence County, Ky.” As the family goes through this difficult time, Ashley thanked her followers for their kindness, writing, “Your outpouring is reaching me.” She continued, “Thank you for every thought, prayer, message, text, email, post, expression. We each are alone and we are in fellowship, broken and held, protected from nothing and sustained in everything.”
“It’s the beginning of an old story, life and death, loss and life,” she added. “Be free, my beautiful mother. Be free.” During Sunday’s induction ceremony, Wynonna accepted the honor in place of her mother, giving a tearful speech to the crowd at Nashville’s CMA Theater. “I’m gonna make this fast because my heart’s broken – and I feel so blessed,” she said. “I mean, it’s a very strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed.”
Just one day earlier, Wynonna and Ashley announced in a statement on social media that their mother had died. “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,” they wrote. “We are in unknown territory.” Naomi’s husband of 32 years, Larry Strickland, also released a statement: “Naomi Judd’s family request privacy during this heartbreaking time. No additional information will be released at this time,” the statement read.
