Naomi Judd’s husband Larry Strickland said he did his best to help the country star in her battle with depression.
“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,” Stickland told People. “I was trying every way I could.”
Judd took her life on April 30. She was 76.
“It was a very chaotic, hectic, hectic time,” recalled Strickland. “It was extremely hard. She had several therapists that she was seeing, and her energy level had gotten really low. She was getting really weak.”
Strickland said he wishes he had taken a different approach to supporting his wife of 33 years.
“If I had known where she was, I would’ve been much softer on her,” he explained. “I would’ve been gentler and more understanding instead of tired and exhausted because it was wearing me out, too.
"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.”
Strickland said he hopes people will become more comfortable talking about mental illness. “When you lose someone to suicide, you don't get a chance to say bye,” he said, noting that losing Judd was “pain like I’ve never felt before.”
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