New shocking details about the end of country icon Naomi Judd’s life have surfaced alongside a court petition by her family. According to The Tennessean, The Judd Family’s petition aims to keep documents related to the singer’s passing, including video and audio from immediately after Judd’s death that would lead to “significant trauma and irreparable harm” to her kids, Naomi and Wynonna Judd, and her husband, Larry Strickland.
The family is also seeking all of the investigative and medical materials kept confidential. These efforts are needed in Tennessee due to the public records law that local law enforcement records are released to the general public, with police holding them from going public during an investigation. Once the investigation has ended, these records are without exemption and “regularly released” to the media and other interested parties.
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The Tennesseean adds that it and other outlets have already submitted requests for the records, which would be typical. The lawsuit by The Judd Family attempts to keep this information under wraps.
The filing says the records are “private, incredibly sensitive and do nothing more than re-open the fresh wounds of Naomi Judd’s death.” Each family gave statements for why the documents should remain sealed, with each saying, “I think Naomi Judd should be remembered for the way she lived and not in the matter in which she died.”
The petition itself already reveals several heartbreaking details that support the request to keep the information sealed. According to The Tennessean, Ashley Judd was the person who found her mother, still alive, and she stayed with her for the 30 minutes it required for emergency services to arrive.
Judd also adds that she was not informed that she was being recorded during interviews with police and was unaware those recordings would later be available to the public and media. Naomi Judd died just one day before her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside her daughter Wynonna. The family initially tried to keep specific details out of the media, announcing their mother had died due to “mental illness,” which was later confirmed to be suicide. Still, the family had to share a message to combat misinformation about the late country legend.
“Our family continues to grieve together privately, in unity and community, recognizing our mother’s beauty and talents as a gift to the world,” the statement reads. “There has been misinformation circulated as we continue to mourn and we lament that. We ask news organizations only to cover facts. And as we recognize other families struggling as a loved one faces mental health crises, we encourage them to seek help through NAMI: The National Alliance on Mental Illness available 24 hours a day at 800-950-6264.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
