Naomi Judd’s daughter is opening up about her late mom’s struggles with mental illness.

Sitting down for an interview with Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America”, actress Ashley Judd confirmed that her mother died by suicide.

READ MORE: Naomi Judd’s Loved Ones Remember The Late Singer: ‘A Steel Magnolia’

“She used a weapon…a firearm,” Ashley said. “So that’s the piece of information we’re very uncomfortable sharing.”

The actress described the difficulty her mother had living with mental illness and why she and her family decided to speak publicly about the cause of death before the autopsy report.

“We’re aware that although grieving the loss of a wife and a mother, we are, in an uncanny way, a public family,” she said. “So that’s really the impetus for this timing. Otherwise, it’s obviously way too soon. So that’s important for us to say up front.”

Ashley added, “When you’re talking about mental illness, it’s important to distinguish between the loved one and the disease. My mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish and she was walked home.”

Many were also shocked by the timing of Naomi’s death, only one day before her scheduled induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside daughter Wynonna, with whom she sang as part of the duo the Judds.

“Our mother couldn’t hang on until she was inducted into the hall of fame by her peers,” Ashley said. “That is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her, because the barrier between the regard in which they held her couldn’t penetrate into her heart and the lie the disease told her was so convincing.”

READ MORE: CMT To Broadcast Live Coverage Of Naomi Judd’s Memorial Service

Ashley also remembered her mom fondly, saying “Mom was a brilliant conversationalist … she was a star, she was an underrated songwriter. And she was someone who suffered from mental illness, you know, and had a lotta trouble getting off the sofa, except to go into town every day to the Cheesecake Factory, where all the staff knew and loved her.”

She added, “And I know everything about them, ’cause she told me everything about them. Or Duane at Walgreens you know, who needs to get a dog. That’s the way she was. And she always had $100 bills stuffed in her bra, and she was passing ’em out to the janitorial staff. You know, just an unfailingly kind, sensitive woman.”

In their statement originally announcing their mother’s death, Ashley and Wynonna had said, “We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. 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.”

Appearing at the Country Music Hall of Fame induction, Wynonna told the audience, “I didn’t prepare anything tonight because I knew Mom would probably talk the most. I’m gonna make this fast, because my heart’s broken, and I feel so blessed. It’s a very strange dynamic, to be this broken and this blessed…. Though my heart’s broken, I will continue to sing, because that’s what we do.”

The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.