Ashley Judd offers a sad, sobering look into the home life of her famous family in her new memoir, "All That Is Bitter & Sweet."
Radar Online, which obtained a copy in advance of its Tuesday release date, reveals excerpts in which Judd counters the notion, made famous by her mother, Naomi, that the Judd family put the fun in dysfunctional.
After her father moved out, Ashley says, her mother began another relationship, with a man who was an abusive heroin addict.
"I was taught to believe that our lifestyle was normal and never to question it or complain, even when I was left alone for hours, sometimes days at a time, or when I was passed without warning to yet another relative," Judd writes.
The problems for the actress didn't just occur outside the house, as she details a sexual assault she suffered while getting pizza.
"An old man everyone knew beckoned me into a dark, empty corner of the business and offered me a quarter for the pinball machine at the pizza place if I'd sit on his lap," Judd writes. "He opened his arms, I climbed up, and I was shocked when he suddenly cinched his arms around me, squeezing me and smothering my mouth with his, jabbing his tongue deep into my mouth."
MSBNC also obtained an advanced copy, providing an excerpt from the first chapter on its website.
"My family of origin, the one into which I was born, was also brimming with love but was not a healthy family system," Judd writes in that first chapter. "There was too much trauma, abandonment, addiction and shame. My mother, while she was transforming herself into the country legend Naomi Judd, created an origin myth for the Judds that did not match my reality. She and my sister have been quoted as saying that our family put the “fun” in dysfunction. I wondered: Who, exactly, was having all the fun? What was I missing?"
The Golden Globe nominated actress, who has become heavily involved in charity and humanitarian nonprofits, is married to Indy Car racer Dario Franchitti. She's starred in hit films such as "Double Jeopardy" and "De-Lovely," for which she received her Golden Globe nomination.
Judd was not part of her mom and sister Wynona's country music group, which gained massive success. That led to loneliness and isolation, though her sister did not escape trauma, either. Wynonna published her own memoir about her rocky childhood in 2005, in which she revealed that Naomi had been lying to her about her biological father.
Source :http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/ashley-judd-details-memoir_n_844857.html
