Naomi Judd says she will take Ashley Judd’s stitches out after horrific Congo accident

Naomi Judd is decades removed from her time as a registered nurse in Tennessee, but the well-known singer is about to have one more patient — her daughter.

Ashley Judd, who suffered “massive catastrophic injuries” to her leg following an accident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February, will have her stitches taken out by her mother, Naomi Judd revealed Thursday.

“She’s very courageous and she’s healing,” Naomi said on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” according to People. “It’s really hard to see her like this. She lives next door, so I’m going to go up and take her stitches out when we’re done because I used to be a nurse before I became a singer.”

The elder Judd was a nurse until she and her other daughter, Wynonna Judd, formed a country music duo in the 1980s, according to the Daily Record. She’ll now come to the aid of Ashley in her recovery back in the United States.

Ashley Judd, the actress and University of Kentucky alum, wrote on Instagram last month she nearly lost her leg in the accident. She said she tripped and broke her leg in four places while studying endangered great apes called bonobos, the Herald-Leader reported.

She said she spent five hours lying on the floor of the forest before being carried out in a hammock. After a six-hour ride on a motorbike, where Judd physically held the top of her shattered tibia together, she stayed overnight in a hut, Judd said.

The next day, Judd was transported to South Africa and hospitalized. She applauded the nurses and doctors who helped her begin her recovery.

“Their sisters (nurses) are exemplary, technically top notch, and they cared for the trauma in my body as well as my soul with equal proficiency,” Judd wrote on Instagram. “Pictured here, once I was stable, is carefree laughter and mirth. Dr Greef, pictured, was super at stabilizing my leg with the external fixator until the massive soft tissue damage and swelling went down so that I could have the big operation. What he did was significant and I am forever in his debt.”

She was transferred to a hospital in the U.S. and wrote last week about “a stream of friends and family” who have come to her aid.

This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Naomi Judd says she will take Ashley Judd’s stitches out after horrific Congo accident."