Larry Strickland looks back on the “chaotic” months leading up to Naomi Judd’s passing
Naomi Judd‘s husband, Larry StricklandI didn’t realize how terrible the singer was deeply struggling before her death. Strickland, looking back, wishes he had been more compassionate with his wife over the past 33 years.
“I look back on the first of this year and I see moments, times when my spouse was normal and happy,” he stated in the Academy of Country Music’s Lifting Lives mental-health series. The Check-In. “[It] It never occurred to me that she was so sick.”
Naomi committed suicide after suffering from depression and anxiety for many years. Before her death, the 76-year old was about to embark on the Judds Final Tour together with Wynonna.
“She lay on the couch quite a bit and I would continue to support her.” [say]”Get up, you have to get up, you have to move,” she said. You have this tour coming up, so you need to get well. “I was angry that she wouldn’t move. I tried everything I could to get her to do so. “I was not compassionate.”
Strickland, now 76, was visibly emotional.
He said, “I now look back at it, and knowing what now, I wish that I had been more patient.” “More understanding, more kind, and more loving. Holding her and being with them, instead of pushing her. She was at that point I didn’t know she was at.”
Strickland hopes to “remove stigma” around mental health and said that he recently learned that he is “extremely fragile”, a lot more than he ever thought.
He said, “You can be pushed into insaneness in a split-second,” and he was not alone. You can be pushed into a break by constant stress and anxiety. It doesn’t require much.
Strickland responded to a question about his gratitude: “My stepdaughter Ashley Judd.”
“She is a light in my world. She is always there for me, no matter where I am in the world. [me]He shared the following: “She FaceTimes with me every day. Every day. It’s the best thing that ever happens to me every day.
Strickland praised the ACM series during an accompanying interview People. He described the months leading to his wife’s passing as “a very chaotic and hectic, hectic, time.”
It was very difficult. She saw several therapists, and her energy had dropped to an all-time low. He said that she was feeling weaker.
Strickland claimed that for the past 13 year, he had been “24/7” with Naomi.
Naomi was always able to tell me where I was and when I would be returning. I don’t think that taking care of my own health is the best thing for me. He explained that when you have a friend with a mental illness, you share that journey.”
Strickland indicated that he is relying on both his stepdaughter and stepdaughter for support.
He said, “We need to hold on to each other so much to cling, and the comfort of a relationship, we must have that.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
MORE: Wynonna Judd shares her thoughts on how to keep her mother’s memory alive