Ashley Judd Recuperating From “Catastrophic” Leg Injury After Fall In Congo Rainforest

Deadline ^ | February 12, 2021 | Greg Evans

[EdnaMode]

Actress, author and humanitarian Ashley Judd is recuperating at a South African trauma unit after almost losing a leg in a “catastrophic” fall in a Congo rainforest.

In an Instagram Live chat with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof – watch it below – Judd, speaking from her ICU bed, says she was walking in a Congo rainforest when she tripped over a fallen tree, shattering her leg. Judd, a frequent visitor to Congo, was doing work to track the Bonobos, an endangered great apes species.

Describing “an incredibly harrowing 55 hours” during which she was transported, in part by being hand-carried out, in part on a six-hour motorbike trip, from the remote rainforest location to a medical center in South Africa, Judd holds up the stick that she was biting to distract from the pain, “howling like a wild animal.” The actress, sister of Wynona Judd and daughter of Naomi Judd, recalls fading in and out of consciousness as she went into shock, repeatedly reciting “the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” from Psalm 23.

Judd tells Kristof that despite the pain – “at the very edge of my edge” – and fear, she was fully aware of her “privilege” in having the opportunity to transfer to a fully equipped medical facility. Most Congolese people, she says, would have remained in the village, lost the leg and maybe a their life.

“The difference between a Congolese person and me is disaster insurance that allowed me 55 hours after my accident to get to an operating table in South Africa,” she says, adding that Congo villages lack not only electricity but “a simple pill to kill the pain when you’ve shattered a leg in four places and have nerve damage.”

Judd further explained on her own Instagram page, writing that she decided to speak out about the accident to spread the word about “what it means to be Congolese in extreme poverty with no access to health care, any medication for pain, any type of service, or choices.”

She continues, “Please join us and learn what it is like for much of the world – and how you can help. Bonobos matter. And so do the people in whose ancestral forest they range and the other 25,600,000 Congolese in need of humanitarian assistance.”

[wardaddy]

Yes and that robber movie with Greg Kinnear

We could freeze her in the shape and give her a softer demeanor

I honestly don’t know why she’s so different than her family

I stop same gas and hunts pizza rack places she does and the help sure talk her and her attitude down

But they love her momma and sister

Hi Dennis....dark times sadly

Nashville is having a major winter blast for about a week

Nearly a foot of snow and you can walk on ponds

[dennisw]

Your wintery weather..... At least you don’t have the problems Texas has. We all know Hollywood is very difficult for actresses past age 35. There are always younger ones coming up through the ranks. Younger ones that are more sexy and more beautiful. This must be what made Ashley Judd go sour. And even sour to pizza place personnel. She must have saved some money from her active years. Enough to support her new career as feminist with her pussy hat march etc.

But strangely enough with all the rabid anti-Trump tweeting from Hollywood during the Trump years....I do not remember Ashley Judd making such tweets.

I just looked at her twitter and she is/was not a crazed anti-Trumper like Rob Reiner and Robert Deniro. Her tweets are feminist and pro-Democrat and SUPRISE! She has an appointment at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government

[dennisw]

Casa De Papel -Money Heist is good. Must see with subtitles. The English dubbed version is awful. It is NOT politically correct! Even has one guy going on at length, picking apart female psychology with great humor and sarcasm.

[dennisw]

“Heat” is in my top five. DeNiro made his two great movies— Heat and Casin back then. I skipped all his others because he always plays Robert DeNiro in them.