Ashley Judd Pens Emotional Tribute to Late Mom Naomi Ahead of Mother's Day

etonline.com:

Naomi Judd died. Not enough time has passed to process such tragedy, but Ashley Judd has mustered the strength to honor her late mother ahead of the first Mother's Day without her.The actress penned an emotional op-ed for USA TODAY in which she paid tribute to her mother while also championing women's rights and shining the spotlight on the value of motherhood.

Ashley opened her essay with, «This Sunday is abruptly, shockingly, my first Mother's Day without my mamma.»Naomi died last week in Tennessee and just hours before The Judds were scheduled to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. «It wasn't supposed to be this way,» Ashley continued. «I was supposed to visit her on Sunday, to give her a box of old-fashioned candy, our family tradition.

We were supposed to have sweet delight in each other's easy presence. Instead, I am unmoored. But my heart is not empty. It is replete with gratitude for what she left behind.

Her nurture and tenderness, her music and memory.»In the op-ed, Ashley implored readers to look in the mirror and ask themselves one simple question: Do we value mothers? «Motherhood should always be a choice,» she wrote. «Does that sound radical to you?