Naomi Judd's Cause of Death Was Self-Inflicted Firearm Wound

Country music star Naomi Judd died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 30, her daughter revealed. 

"She used a weapon. My mother used a firearm," Ashley said during an appearance on "Good Morning America" on Thursday. "So that’s the piece of information we are very uncomfortable sharing."

Ashley also discussed the trauma of finding her mother, 76, dead in her home. 

"It was a mixed day," she said. "I visit with my mom and pop every day when I’m home in Tennessee, so I was at the house … and Mom said to me, 'Will you stay with me?' And I said, 'Of course, I will.'"

Her mother was upstairs when a friend arrived to visit, Ashley said.

"I went upstairs to let her know that [her] friend was there, and I discovered her. I have both grief and trauma from discovery," she said. 

Ashley said she had been put in charge of sharing details of her mother's suicide in order to spread awareness on mental health. 

"When we’re talking about mental illness, it’s very important to be clear and to make the distinction between the loved one and the disease," she said. "My mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish, and she was walked home."

Naomi died shortly before she was set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The fact that she "couldn't hang on" until then highlighted "the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her," Ashley said.

"The barrier between the regard in which [her peers] held her couldn’t penetrate into her heart, and the lie that the disease told her was so convincing," Ashley said.

Ashley and her sister, Wynonna, announced on April 30 that their mother had died because of "the disease of mental illness."

"Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness," they said in a statement said. "We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory."

The next day they broke down on stage at the Country Music Hall of Fame during Naomi and Wynonna’s induction for The Judds.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

• Dolly Parton Pays Tribute to Country Star Naomi Judd
• Country Music Legend Tom T. Hall Died by Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound: Report