Hollywood vet Ashley Judd, 58, takes swipe at late mom Naomi by saying she wasn't 'nurtured' as a child

Hollywood actress Ashley Judd, who was in the hit films Double Jeopardy and Kiss The Girls, took a swipe at her late mother Naomi Judd on Tuesday.

The star wrote an Instagram post about having to relive her childhood as she didn't have much of one while her singer mom toured constantly.

'There was no parent (or adult) supporting, nurturing, guiding and reinforcing my learning, delighting in, or protecting that little girl,' shared the brunette who left Los Angeles years ago to live a quieter life in Tennessee.

Judd also shared that for her 58th birthday last month she re-imagined her 12th birthday as she does not remember having any celebrations when she was a child.

'Have you ever considered, from your adult perspective, restaging for your sweet inner child an experience she either never had at all?' she asked her followers.

'Or an experience that did not unfold with the safety and attention it should have? I deeply enjoy doing this from a loving inner-parent perspective for my inner family.'

She then got back to her grim childhood.

'Many of us grew up with unmet needs.... I don’t remember any of my birthdays growing up,' she noted.

'Today, as adults, we can listen carefully to those missings, identify what happened that should not have happened - and, crucially, what did not happen that should have happened - supplying that, now, with love and humor to ourselves.'

The Hollywood icon, who used to date her A Time To Kill costar Matthew McConaughey, shared photos from her mock 12th birthday where she sang and danced with her friends.

Judd was dressed in a blue floral-print dress with no shoes on.

'This past weekend, alongside sensitive, playful people who also relish carefree timelessness, we restaged my 12th birthday party,' she shared as she could be seen next to a chocolate cake with a 12 on it.

'We backfilled what was always missing and no longer is, thanks to vulnerable imagination.

'We laughed, frolicked, square danced, took a Scopes Monkey Trial True or False quiz (including quite a bit Mrs. Minor did not cover in 1979), and ate a dream cake any 12-year-old would adore.

'We also anonymously wrote down 6th grade shames, placing them in a safe jar where others could read them with empathy (and maybe even a little 12-year-old problem solving).. Shame reduction! Who knew others were also awkward and scared at times.'

The Hollywood actress has been on a 'long journey to reconnect with herself and find joy in everyday things during the few decades she has left,' a source has told the Daily Mail.

Growing up in a famous family - her mother is the late singer Naomi Judd and her sister is country crooner Wynonna Judd - has been a source of trauma, as working for them when she was younger did not allow her to experience a normal childhood.

She later found herself in a completely different, yet still demanding, environment as an A-List leading lady with roles in films such as A Time To Kill, Double Jeopardy and Kiss The Girls.

The pressure to look good under the spotlight was intense. But the movie icon has now begun her healing process by listening to her 'inner voice' with the help of a 'wisdom teacher' that is guiding her to unfiltered happiness, Daily Mail has learned.

'She wants to experience the joy she never had as a child,' said the pal. 'Her hope is to loose all the drama and expectations and splash around like a silly child enveloped in light.'

'Ashley hopes to become totally unselfconscious so she can find her true self,' the insider added.

This lines up with a late August Instagram post that Judd made while on vacation in Greece.

The star said in her caption that was looking inside of herself to find answers as she said she wanted to fall in love with herself again.

The movie icon also hinted that her family, as well as society, had 'distorted our natural feelings of self worth and self care.'

'I cannot give what I do not have, & trauma & deprivation I do not transform, is trauma & deprivation I will transfer. Thus, I start with myself. Trusting myself, my inner knowing, growing own capacity & nurturing inner resource, has been the yield & bounty of 20 years of recovery,' she wrote.

Judd then said a 'Higher Power' was serving as her 'actual parent' so that she could honor herself and connect with others.

That is what led her to the Mediterranean region over the hot months. 

'This summer, I had the opportunity to take a vacation. I checked in with myself and some younger versions of me “showed me” blue & white. I instantly recognized the parts of me that longed to go to Greece. I chose Patmos Island. It was me with my inner journey & selves. It was innocent, pure, beautiful, fun, exploratory.'

She then asked a profound question: 'How can you access your own inner knowing to provision for yourself today that which you lacked growing up?'

Judd was an A-list movie star who worked on blockbuster films with big-name costars for over a decade. 

She was paired with the best: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Matthew McConaughey, to name a few.

Her female costars were just as impressive: Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman and the inimitable Salma Hayek.

Judd even played the biggest pinup Hollywood has ever seen - Marilyn Monroe - in 1996's Norma Jean & Marilyn.

For the past decade she has been in supporting roles, though she has had some big hits like The Dog's Way Home in 2019.

But since she injured her leg in 2021 in the Republic of the Congo, the bombshell daughter of Naomi Judd has slowed down. 

She has also been in school: Judd graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2007, earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 2010 and enrolled at UC Berkeley in 2016 to pursue a PhD in Public Policy.

In April 2024, Judd opened up about her mother's struggles with mental health, saying that on the day Naomi took her own life 'the disease of mental illness was lying to her and with great terror [had] convinced her that it would never get better.'

Ashley recounted the heartbreaking moment she discovered her mom's body after she took her own life aged 76 on April 30, 2022.

Judd began: 'I'm here because I am my beloved mother's daughter and on the day she died, which will be the two-year anniversary in one week, the disease of mental illness was lying to her and with great terror convinced her that it would never get better...

'I have a firm belief that we deserve to be remembered not just for how we died but how we lived.'

The star went on to share details about her mom as she divulged: 'She also lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and stole from her. It stole from our family and she deserved better.'

Naomi died from a single gunshot to the head and left a suicide note near her body at at her home in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee. 

She had battled with 'significant' anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, according to an autopsy report. 

Ashley talked about her own experience with depression as she explained: 'I'm also here because I was molested by a man for the first time that I remember when I was seven years old.

'That's when I had onset of childhood depression and I know the feeling of not wanting to be here but I had a different experience because I went to treatment in 2006 for unresolved childhood grief and sexual trauma.

'I've been in good recovery for 18 years and I've had a different outcome than my mother. I carry a message of hope and recovery.'