Make Page Six a Preferred Source Ashley Judd claimed late mom Naomi Judd “threatened to stop paying” her college tuition over a lesbian professor.
“She didn’t like what I was learning,” Ashley explained to former Christ Church Nashville Pastor Dan Scott on the first episode of their new podcast, “A Table Prepared,” which premiered Friday.
“She didn’t like [that] I had a lesbian theologian professor that was taking me through Hebrew scripture and looking at the women listed as property after the donkeys,” the actress, 58, continued.
Ashley went on to allege that Naomi, who died by suicide in April 2022, felt pressured to be politically aligned with the country music industry due to fears of “disapproval and retaliation.”
However, Ashley clarified that “in the home,” Naomi was more open about expressing political beliefs, “especially” with her daughter.
“She could share all kinds of political and social views that would surprise people if they thought Naomi Judd thought, felt, said that,” Ashley recalled.
Ashley added that Naomi — who battled mental health struggles before she fatally shot herself — specifically had “a lot of compassion” for women who were in the headlines for harming their children.
“She would say they need help, not punishment,” Ashley shared, before admitting she was unsure whether Naomi “would have been comfortable in her lifetime saying that.”
Ashley confessed, “I’ve debated with myself, is it okay for me to say that posthumously and attribute it to her? I’m still in relationship with my mother, and so I’ve asked her these things. I was up the other morning … and the part of my mother that lives in me said, ‘Honey, I told stories. You tell the truth.’”
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She felt, in that moment, that her mom had “passed [the] baton.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Ashley expressed gratitude to her co-host for staying close with Naomi before the country music singer’s passing.“A couple of times, close to the end of her life, when she was in and out of the hospital for various reasons, you would be one of the people I would call, and you always faithfully showed up,” Ashley shared. “She would be so delighted to see you.”
The “High Crimes” star, notably, was the one to discover Naomi when the Grammy Award winner died in her Tennessee home at age 76.
In last year’s “Judd Family: Truth Be Told” docuseries, Ashley said she held Naomi and talked to her before she died, saying, “It’s OK, it’s OK. I’ve seen how much you’ve been suffering.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
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