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Larry Strickland reflected on his wife’s final months leading to her death earlier this year, including what he might have done differently if he’d known the state of Naomi Judd’s mental health.
Naomi was a beloved country artist who was known for performing in the iconic mother-daughter duo, The Judds, with one of her daughters, Wynonna Judd. Naomi unexpectedly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a long battle with depression earlier this year. She was 76. Wynonna and her sister, actress Ashley Judd, confirmed in a statement at the time that they’d “lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.”
Strickland, Naomi’s husband of more than three decades, opened up about the “very chaotic, hectic time” at the end of the country star’s life, he said in a new interview with PEOPLE, shared on Wednesday (December 14). Strickland, 76, said he didn’t realize how bad Naomi’s mental health was, and feels that he “might have overdone it.”
“I was trying to get her to eat. I was trying to get her to exercise. I handled her medications and had to make sure she had what she needed. I was trying every way I could,” Strickland said in the interview, explaining what he might have done differently. “If I had known where she was, I would've been much softer on her. I would've been gentler and more understanding instead of tired and exhausted because it was wearing me out, too. To know now that she was contemplating [suicide], I look back and just wish I had been holding her and comforting her instead of pushing her. I don't know if that would've helped, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt. …When you have a mate that has a mental illness, you walk that path with them.”
Strickland, Wynonna and Ashley has supported one another through their grief since losing Naomi. He’s also talked about his own mental health in a digital series by the Academy of Country Music’s Lifting Lives, PEOPLE notes. The ACM also lists episodes featuring Jimmie Allen, Brett Eldredge, Lindsay Ell and others. Strickland hopes that opening up about his own experiences will help others to talk about mental health.
Wynonna and Ashley have also been open about their grief after losing their mother. Wynonna, for example, recently spoke with grief and loss specialist David Kessler about the first holiday season without her mother and duo partner. Ashley gave an interview weeks after Naomi’s death, remembering her mother as “an unfailingly kind, sensitive woman.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide or is in emotional distress, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.