Naomi Judd died from a single gunshot to the head and left a suicide note near her body, an autopsy report has revealed.
The country superstar died of a self-inflicted bullet wound in April 2022 at the age of 76, the medical examiner’s office in Nashville confirmed on Friday.
According to the report Judd battled with ‘significant’ anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.
The contents of the suicide note Judd wrote before her death has not been released. A toxicology report concluded that the singer had several different drugs in her system at the time of death.
Two weeks before her shocking death, Naomi stood on stage with her daughter Wynonna in a surprise reunion at the Country Music Awards in April 2022.
The country superstar died of a self-inflicted bullet wound in April 2022 at the age of 76, the medical examiner’s office in Nashville confirmed on Friday
This was one of Naomi Judd’s final appearances in public before her death on April 30, 2022. She is pictured waving at crowds at the CMT Music Awards on April 11, 2022
They sang a powerful song of reconciliation, written by Naomi – ‘Love Can Build A Bridge’ in what was her last public appearance before her suicide.
The autopsy report stated: ‘She had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and was transported to Williamson Medical Center where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
‘Per family, the decedent has had prior suicidal ideations and recent life stressors.
‘A weapon and a note with suicidal connotations were found near the decedent at the scene.’
According to the report, the gunshot ‘perforated through the right side of the scalp and entered the skull through an entrance-type gunshot wound.’
The Judds were the most successful country singers of the 80s, winning five Grammys, nine CMAs, and selling 20million records.
This comes after details of Naomi’s will were recently brought to the surface – as the late country singer named her husband, Larry, as executor of her $25million fortune.
And according to sources, it caused discontent among the family.
Elder daughter Wynonna, 58, plans to contest her mother’s will, which made no provision for her or her half-sister Ashley, 54.
Wynonna’s decision to push back at her mother’s wishes was driven by a deep-seated sense of injustice and simmering discord that has plagued the family for decades.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, the source revealed that Ashley has sided with Strickland over her mother’s decision.
‘Ashley Judd has no problem with her late mother Naomi leaving her entire $25million fortune to her second husband Larry Strickland,’ the insider said.
‘With Ashley it’s never really been about the money. She has a net worth of some $14million but lives a relatively simple life.’
In contrast, the source added, the ‘finances are near and dear,’ to Wynonna, who has long had a troubled relationship with money, spending habits, and with her mother whom she called, ‘my beloved enemy.’
In the immediate aftermath of their mother’s death Ashley and Wynonna supported each other in their loss, attending her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, May 1, the day after their mother’s suicide.
But the sisters’ united front was allegedly short-lived. The source said, ‘[At first] Ashley and Wynonna really leaned on each other in their grief over Naomi’s death, but you knew it was only a matter of time before their ages-old sisterly issues would resurface.’
Elder daughter Wynonna, 58, is now grappling with her mother’s decision to exclude her from her will and instead leave her $25million fortune to husband Larry Strickland – despite building a successful music career together
Naomi and Wynonna pictured in their heyday. A source close to Wynonna alleged the singer is angry she was excluded from Naomi Judd’s will and ‘believes she was a major force behind her mother’s success. The duo were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame one day after Judd’s death was announced
According to insiders, Wynonna feels entitled to a ‘piece of the pie’ as the ‘lead singer’ of The Judds and for taking Naomi from working as a nurse in Nashville to being a global star
Naomi had a tumultuous upbringing – and in part she attributed her depression to the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of an uncle when she was just three.
When she was 22, Naomi was raped and beaten by an ex-boyfriend, a trauma that saw her flee Los Angeles for rural Kentucky, where she lived with her children on welfare while training to become a nurse.
They lived in a home with no electricity, phone, television or indoor plumbing.
Naomi moved to Nashville when she qualified and ultimately became head nurse in an intensive care unit.
It was there that she learned a patient’s father was in the music industry. She made a tape of herself singing with Wynonna, gave it to him and ‘The Judds’ career in music was launched.
On May 29, one month after her mother’s death, Wynonna wrote an emotional Instagram post in which she spoke of her unbearable grief and her fear that she would never be able to ‘surrender to the truth’ of the way her mother left this life.
She wrote about ‘personal healing,’ her sense of being ‘helpless’ and the few things she knew in the face of such despair and drama.
She said she would continue to fight for her faith, herself and her family, to continue to ‘show up & sing.’
And she vowed to ‘break the cycle’ of addiction and dysfunction that has stalked the Judd women and, with Grace’s incarceration, threatens to tumble into yet another generation.