Ashley Judd has worked almost as hard for good causes as she has in her acting career. Since 2016, Judd has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. She is known for her work promoting gender equality, particularly her advocacy of sexual and reproductive rights around the world.
But she didn’t start calling herself a feminist recently. In 2003, Judd was on the cover of Ms. magazine. with Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho and Camryn Manheim, all of whom wore “This is what a feminist looks like” t-shirts.
Most of Divergent star Ashley Judd’s charity work is in developing countries, but she’s also involved in her own country, where the fight for equality is far from over. In October 2017, Judd was one of the first women to say publicly that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her.
It was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by The New York Times. Judd identified the now-disgraced Hollywood producer as the unnamed abuser, who she had previously described in a 2015 interview as “one of the most famous, admired and reviled bosses in our industry.” Judd said the incident happened while filming “Kiss the Girls” in 1997.
In addition to her courage and activism after the Weinstein scandal, Judd also had to fight against sexism towards older actors. Over the years, Judd has spoken out against the attacks she has received from the media and the public over her changes in appearance, leading to much talk of plastic surgery.
Ashley Judd has hit back at criticism of her ‘puffy’ face
Sources said Ashley Judd’s puffy face was a source of bad press for her in early 2012. After she appeared on a Canadian talk show in April of that year, the media began to speculate that Judd had gone under the knife. She was called names like “cow” and “pig,” she wrote in response to The Daily Beast.
Judd denied having plastic surgery, saying the swelling in her face was a side effect of the powerful medication, including steroids, she had been taking for more than a month to treat an illness.
But despite being ill, Judd used her position to speak out about how the media treated female actors.
“When my face in 2012 looks different than it did when I was filming ‘Double Jeopardy’ in 1998, I’m accused of ‘messing up’ my face… with an impassioned complaint that ‘Ashley has lost her familiar beauty , which made audiences love her,” she wrote.
Although she tried to stop it, she did it again in 2020 when presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren tweeted a video of Judd in which her face appeared “puffed out.” Following more rumors of plastic surgery, Judd took to Facebook to say she was getting regular Botox injections to treat her chronic migraines, which also caused her to gain weight. Again Judd had to tell them it was none of their business.
Ashley Judd underwent surgery in 2021
After putting an end to plastic surgery rumors for years, Ashley Judd has been very open about her accident in February 2021, which led to a very different kind of surgery: one that saved her life. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Judd worked on project to protect a bonobo when he tripped over a fallen tree in the harsh African rainforest. She told Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times on Instagram Live that her leg was badly broken.
She wrote on Instagram that it took her 55 terrifying hours to get to the hospital. Judd lay on the forest floor for five hours as her local friends set her leg, which was broken in four places, and tended to her as she went into shock.
The men then took turns carrying her in a hammock through the dangerous jungle and back to camp for another few hours. From there, Judd and two volunteers rode a motorcycle for six hours while the other passenger helped hold her leg in place.
Before arriving at Kinshasa airport, Judd spent more than two days on the road. He arrived at a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. In another Instagram post, Judd said he needs to receive a blood transfusion and treatment to reduce the swelling before he can have surgery.
“I wake up crying with gratitude, deeply moved by every single person who contributed something life-giving and soul-saving during my grueling 55-hour odyssey,” she wrote in the first post.
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