Ashley Judd is grieving her mother Naomi Judd's death one day at a time.
The Double Jeopardy actress revealed that she fractured her leg in a "freak accident" this past summer, just months after her mother died by suicide.
"It was what it was," she said Oct. 27 while appearing on Zoom opposite UCLA professor Dr. Jonathan Flint as part of an Open Mind lecture, per The Hollywood Reporter. "Clumsiness is associated with grief, and there were other people in our family, after mom died, who fell down stairs and had accidents, and that's just what mine happened to look like."
Ashley, 54, said that her leg injury—a femoral condyle fracture—came less than two years after she injured it by tripping over a fallen tree during a hiking excursion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the time, she shattered her leg in four places, leading to a stressful rescue journey and a months-long recovery.
However, the Emmy-nominated actress said this recent fracture was less dire and "healed in two months, lickety-split." The recovery time allowed her to confront her emotions surrounding her mother's death head-on.
"It really allowed me to grieve," she shared. "It really allowed me to stop what I was working on at that moment and to grieve."
Naomi died by suicide on April 30 at the age of 76. Throughout her life, the country legend was open about her struggles with mental health, including her three-year battle with suicidal depression.
With the six-month anniversary of Naomi's passing approaching, Ashley said she is in a much better place and is making plans to see her sister, Wynonna Judd, perform on tour, which their mother was supposed to be part of.
"I just spent some time with my wisdom teacher today, and there's a lot going on in my life right now," she shared during the lecture. "We're approaching the [six] month anniversary of my mom's passing and my sister's on tour. I'm seeing two of the concerts this weekend, which brings up a lot of deep poignancy, both joy and sorrow."