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LEPERS FORK, TENNESSEE: Ashley Judd recently opened up about the tragic moments that occurred when she discovered her mother, famed country singer Naomi Judd,

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LEPERS FORK, TENNESSEE: Ashley Judd recently opened up about the tragic moments that occurred when she discovered her mother, famed country singer Naomi Judd,

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after her suicide in April. In a personal essay published in The New York Times, the 54-year-old described that day as "the most shattering day of her life," 

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" recalling finding her mother still alive and holding her. "The trauma of discovering and then holding her laboring body haunts my nights,"

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Judd wrote. She felt "cornered and powerless" because all she wanted to do was comfort her mother,

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 but police officers began questioning her and kept her away from Naomi in the final moments of her life.

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"I wanted to console her, tell her she was about to see her daddy and younger brother as she 'went away home,' as we say in Appalachia," Judd said. 

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"Instead, I began a series of interviews that felt mandatory and imposed on me, drawing me away from the precious end of my mother's life

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 without being indicated that I had any choices about when, where, and how to participate."

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Judd believed the officers labelled her as a "possible suspect" only moments after she discovered her mother's body.