Politics
Ashley Judd Reveals Mom Naomi Feared Backlash Over Political Beliefs: Her Views Would ’Surprise People’
Ashley Judd opened up about her late mother, Naomi Judd’s political beliefs and the fear that came with them.
On the Thursday, November 12, episode of the A Table Prepared podcast, the 58-year-old Double Jeopardy star revealed that Naomi kept some of her real political views to herself to fit in with the rest of the country music industry.
“Mom was afraid of disapproval and retaliation from the country music community if she didn’t hold a certain political line that became a part of the public narrative of that genre of music,” Ashley said in the debut episode of her podcast.
The Divergent actress added that her late mother’s political beliefs might come as a surprise to some people.
“She could share all kinds of political and social views that would surprise people if they thought Naomi Judd thought, felt, said that,” Ashley said.
Ashley, who was previously married to Scottish auto racing driver Dario Franchitti, went on to recount an incident involving Naomi’s surgical procedure at Williamson County Hospital.
Ashley recalled her mother writing something on her inner leg before the procedure.
“Can you just take a very wild guess as to what she wrote? She wrote the word ‘Trump,'” Ashley revealed.
The actress continued, “She wrote the word ‘Trump’ on her inner thigh. And this was right before the second election in which he ran. And we talked about this a lot.”
Ashley admitted that she and her mom had different views on the matter.
“And that’s when I chose to let it go. Like I took that conversation as far as I could with perspective-taking and empathy and seeing things from multiple people’s perspectives,” she added. “And what my mom really wanted me to do was to see that from her perspective.”
The Heat star admitted that she was unsure if sharing her mother’s beliefs now is the right thing to do.
“I’ve debated with myself, is it OK for me to say that posthumously and attribute it to her?” Ashley asked.
The actress continued, “I’m still in a relationship with my mother, and so I’ve asked her these things.”
Naomi died by suicide on April 30, 2022, at her home in Tennessee, the Associated Press confirmed.
