Ashley Judd recently opened up about the impact her mother’s death has had on her health.
In a conversation with UCLA professor Dr. Jonathan Flint as part of an Open Mind lecture series, the 54-year-old actress revealed that she fractured her leg due to grief-related clumsiness following her mother Naomi Judd’s suicide.
During the summer, the Double Jeopardy star suffered a fracture of the femoral condyle.
Although the injury wasn’t severe and she recovered quickly, Ashley shared that it gave her the opportunity to pause and grieve.
She explained, “It was what it was.
Clumsiness is associated with grief, and there were other people in our family, after mom died, who fell down stairs and had accidents, and that’s just what mine happened to look like.
It really allowed me to grieve.
It really allowed me to stop what I was working on at that moment and to grieve.”
In May, PEOPLE reported that country singer Naomi Judd died by suicide on April 30 after a long battle with mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.
Ashley emphasized that she was able to process her mother’s death with the help of her chosen sisters and inner circle, who provided support during those difficult days.
Reflecting on the aftermath of her mother’s passing, Ashley said, “The day that my beloved mother died by suicide, I had so many people to call.
There were five women who were with me within moments of my sharing that tragic news with them, and they are my chosen sisters.
I was just reflecting overnight.
I had one of my 2 a.m. wake-ups overnight, and I was reflecting on those first days after her passing and how there was always someone with me at my house.”
This recent leg injury is not the first for Ashley.
Earlier this year, she suffered a “catastrophic accident” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she shattered her leg in four places.
While researching the endangered ape species called Bonobos, she tripped over a fallen tree.
After a 55-hour rescue operation, she underwent an eight-hour surgery in South Africa and subsequently went through intensive physical therapy.
Despite initial expectations, Ashley’s progress exceeded everyone’s predictions.
She shared, “We expected my foot — if ever — to *begin* to move in one year.
In four months to the day, she went [and] blew us all away.
Now, after crying while trying to spell the ABCs with a paralyzed foot….well, you see!
My leg will never be the same.
She is a new leg.
And I love her.
We are buddies.
We have come a long way and we have a fabulous life ahead.”
Earlier this year, Ashley commemorated the anniversary of her accident by hiking 25 miles in the Appalachian Mountains.
She expressed her desire to return to the Congo and wrote on Instagram, “Good greetings, 2022.
It is nice to see you, on this, the 11 month anniversary of having broken my leg in four places and paralyzing my foot (not to mention nearly hemorrhaging to death).
I have just walked a nourishing twenty five miles in my #Appalachian home-place, the #GreatSmokyMountainsNationalPark, and then romped up and down our annual New Year snowy paths on an #Alp in #Switzerland.
All this has me feeling ready.
For what?
Yes.
#Congo.
I return now.
My heart is open and eager.”
