Ashley Judd has shared her heartbreak as she marked her first birthday without her mum Naomi Judd.
Ashley Judd has marked her first birthday without her mum Naomi
The actress turned 55 on Wednesday (19.04.23) and she shared a picture of the announcement card written by her mum after her birth and posted a poignant message on Instagram recalling that last year she celebrated her birthday just 11 days before her country singer mother took her own life on April 30 2022 - insisting she thinks about her mum "constantly" since the tragedy.
Ashley wrote: "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. I think of her constantly. I am looking at my baby announcement and sitting with her tender joy in sharing about me. "
The 'Double Jeopardy' star went on to describe how Naomi would mark her youngest daughter's birthday, adding: "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."
Ashley remembers all the birthdays she spent with her mum from picnics to playing charades and talking about parenting, and revealed the last year's was more "muted".
She wrote: "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 three 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."
Ashley concluded her message by writing: "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."
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