Ashley Judd Remembers Late Mother Naomi Judd On 1st Birthday Without Her

Ashley Judd penned a bittersweet reflection on her birthday on Wednesday (April 19), marking the first one without her late mother, Naomi Judd. The 55-year-old actress posted a tribute on Instagram, acknowledging loved ones who are making her birthday special while also missing her mother.

Naomi — who was one half of the beloved mother-daughter duo The Judds with her other daughter and Ashley’s sister, Wynonna Judd — died unexpectedly on April 30, 2022, one day before The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. She was 76. Ashley and Wynonna shared a heartbreaking statement at that time, sharing that they that they “lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.”

“My birthday. Everyone who loves me is making it as soft (cake in bed) and precious as they can, as my mind can't help but calculate that on my last birthday, Mom was a scant 11 days from her death by crushing suicide. So it is my first without her,” Ashley wrote in an Instagram caption as she shared a photo of the baby announcement Naomi filled out when Ashley was born. “I am recalling her annual rite of recounting to me the day of my birth, all the details that were so precious to her. During my birthday at some point she would glow, patting my arm, ‘you were brown when you came out, surprised me so, and the sweetest, easiest baby....how I loved you, I had to swat peoples` hands they wanted to touch you,’ and patter on about my baby stories. I hope all parents do that for their children on their birthdays.

“We celebrated so many together with my Chosen Family: picnics, running charades, Smoky Mountains, conversations about parenting (‘when we know better, we do better’) social issues, & laughter scatter like sunlight in my memory,” Ashley continued. “Last year’s, as you might imagine, was more muted, being so close to her end. Pop and she came over with a roast chicken and cornbread, and we shared a small meal, the 3 of us. Mom laid down a lot. We had cake and in spite of being weak and preoccupied with the disease that was eating at her, she had a gorgeous card for me and I knew, as ever, how much she loved me. I know that today, too, even as she breathes in the infinite mercy of God. Thank you, Mom, for all my birthdays so far, and for celebrating me: for holding me at bedtime and whispering in my ear, ‘Ashley, you are an extraordinary woman,’ and letting me be your Sweetpea. What more does a birthday girl need, than memories of a mother like that? And this is how she saw and loved me, first awake, hair never brushed, ready to share our dreams. For you, Mom. For you.”