Ashley Judd is an American actress and political activist. She has appeared in some successful movies like Ruby in Paradise, Norma Jean & Marilyn, A Time To Kill, Frida, Double Jeopardy, Heat, Twisted, Olympus Has Fallen, and more. She is the daughter of Naomi Judd and half-sister of Wynonna Judd, a country music star.
And recently, Ashley Judd’s weight gain story has been gaining traction. What happened to the American actress? Why did she gain weight? Today, we will look at all the reasons behind her sudden weight gain. How did fans react to it? Let’s find out.
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Get To Know Ashley
Born Ashley Tyler Ciminella in April 1968, she is an American actress. Ashley grew up in a family of performing artists. She is the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of another singer, Wynonna Judd.
With an acting career spanning more than three decades, Ashley has been involved in some amazing movies. Her acting credits include Ruby in Paradise, Smoke, A Time to Kill, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is, Frida, High Crimes, Dolphin Tale, Olympus has Fallen, Divergent, Big Stone Gap, Barry, A Dog’s Way Home, and more.
Ashley was born in Granada Hills, Los Angeles. Her parents are Naomi Judd, a country music singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Charles Ciminella, a marketing analyst. Her elder half-sister, Wynonna Judd, is also a country music singer.
Her paternal grandfather was of Sicilian descent, while her paternal grandmother was a distant descendant of William Brewster.
When she was born, her mother was a housewife. It wasn’t until the 1980s that Naomi became one of the more famous country singers. That happened after Naomi returned to Kentucky. Her parents divorced in 1982 when she was only four years old. And then the following year, her mother Naomi returned to Kentucky with Ashley.
Ashley had a tumultuous childhood, attending 13 schools before college. She briefly tried modeling in Japan during a school break. For her higher education, she attended the University of Kentucky, where she majored in French and minored in anthropology, art history, theater, and women’s studies.
Following her college graduation, she moved to Hollywood and studied acting with professional teacher Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West. During this period, she also worked as a hostess at The Ivy restaurant and lived in a Malibu rental house.
In 1991, she began her acting career by appearing in small roles. One of them was portraying Ensign Robin Lefler, a Starfleet officer, in two episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation. In 1992, she made her feature film debut in Kuffs.
Her first starring role came in 1993 as the title character in Victor Nunez’s Ruby in Paradise. The movie won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The role completely shaped her future career.
Oliver Stone saw her in the movie and then cast her in Natural Born Killers. Yet, the scenes with her were cut from the version of the film released theatrically.
In 1996, Ashley co-starred with Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe in the movie Norma Jean and Marilyn. In that movie, she recreated the photo shoot for the centerfold for the first issue of Playboy.
Over the years, she appeared in many more movies and even earned sponsorships for fashion brands. For example, since 2004, she has been the advertising face of American Beauty, an Estee Lauder cosmetic brand sold at Kohl’s department stores.
Did She Have Plastic Surgery?
When fans noticed her weight gain, one of the first conspiracy theories was facial plastic surgery. And she was not the first family member to endure it. Her mother Naomi Judd was a victim of plastic surgery rumors her whole life.
Yet, the American actress was not bothered by the criticism and allegations of the public. Today, however, we will try to dispel these rumors and find the root of the cause.
What caused Ashley Judd’s weight gain? Let’s take a look.
How Did She Gain Weight?
The Ashley Judd weight gain story is a sad one. The story has been making headlines, but fans do not know the source of the problem. We have to say that Ashley had to go through a difficult period in her life.
While the actress has been known for her slender frame for decades, recently, she looked different. Photos taken during the memorial of her mother sparked speculation that she gained weight.
On the memorial, she spoke about her mother, country legend Naomi Judd, as a tribute to her work in the music world.
Yet, people gathered there and on the Internet were more interested in her weight gain than her words. So, that prompted Ashley to go on social media and explain the whole weight gain experience.
How Much Weight Did Ashley Gain?
It is quite obvious that American actress Ashley Judd has gained some weight following the death of her mother. Naomi passed away in April 2022.
Yet, there is no exact number of how much weight the actress has put on. It is just sad that people are talking about her weight gain, despite being the result of an underlying health issue.
She had to write on social media, “I have been sick with siege migraines for over a year, and that migraine affects one in four households in the US. Earlier this year, my neurologist pain specialist banned me from anything but mild walking exercise. My last siege migraine lasted a grueling four and a half months. Along with medications and the inevitable laziness that gathers around forced inertia, I have experienced some un-fun weight gain”.
Responding To Critics
After being trolled for putting on weight, Ashley wrote, “Misogyny is a real thing in our culture. You try being a once ultra-fit woman who’s 54 and put on some weight”.
The actress revealed that the weight gain came after her mother’s death in April 2022. And then, in the summer of 2022, she suffered a leg fracture. That fracture came less than two years after she shattered her leg in four places during a hiking excursion in the Democratic Republic of Congo in February 2021.
So, the actress wrote on social media, “I’ve put on some weight and I’m sure people are talking about it but I don’t pay any attention to it because I know it’s a temporary condition and the weight will come off when it’s supposed to”.
She also added, “It’s none of my business what people think of me. I have a healthy boundary about it but I also know that misogyny is a real thing in our culture. You try being a once ultra-fit woman who’s 54 and put on some weight. That is going to spark some very sexist conversations by both men and women and others in our culture”.
Speaking about her mother’s death, she said, “Clumsiness is associated with grief, and there were other people in our family, after mom died, who fell down stairs and had accidents, and that’s just what mine happened to look like. It really allowed me to grieve. It really allowed me to stop what I was working on at that moment and to grieve”.
And in the end, she said, “The day that my beloved mother died by suicide, I had so many people to call. There were five women who were with me within moments of my sharing that tragic news with them, and they are my chosen sisters”.
Her sister Wynonna also cleared the rumors of a possible rift between the sisters. She said they are closer than they’ve been in a long time. Wynonna added, “We love each other and we show up for each other. We don’t agree on much but we support one another”.
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