ASHLEY SUFFERED FROM REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK

Posted Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pm | 12 Comments »
Filed under: Ashley-Judd

Making it an annual event for ambasador Ashley Judd, the actress was all smiles at last night’s YouthAIDS gala in suburban Washington.

Wearing a Congolese dress made of Dutch Wax African fabric, she spoke of a recent trip to Rwanda and how, after three weeks there surrounded by starvation and violence, it was “very, very hard” to come home. “How could I reconcile the softness of my world?” She was so troubled she felt ill. “My doctor’s prognosis was that I had a very bad case of reverse culture shock.”

She underwent EMDR therapy for trauma, but Ashley says she was really suffering from “grief.” Her conclusion: “It’s going to take some time to heal.”

NAMASTE

Posted Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 10:40 am | 10 Comments »
Filed under: Ashley-Judd, Bono

Joined by world healer Bono, Ashley Judd was in McLean, VA last night for a gala fundraiser called Faces of India.

Decked out in a sari, she posed for pics with Queen Noor and model Frederique van del Wal; urged “Namaste” to all; and danced to the music of her “neighbour” from Nashville, Michael McDonald.

The star-studded eve also offered a preview of Ashley’s November 30 National Geographic special, India’s Hidden Plague, that chronicles her three-week trip to the brothels of India exploring the AIDS epidemic in her job as ambassador.

“It’s the role of a lifetime,” she said. She hasn’t given up her day job, however. She’s flying out today to Vancouver for more filming of her next movie, Helen, about a professor battling depression.