Ashley Judd has had a long few days. While recovering in the ICU, she caught up with Nicholas Kristof from The New York Times about how she broke her leg while adventuring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and having to be rushed to the hospital.
Judd said she was “in an ICU trauma unit in beautiful South Africa, which has taken me in from the Congo: a country I deeply love which is not, unfortunately, equipped to deal with massive catastrophic injuries like I have had.”
According to her, because of a faulty lamp, she couldn’t see what was in front of her while adventuring, and she tripped over a fallen tree and shattered her leg. Judd was then stuck on the forest floor for several hours with one of her friends before someone came to help.
“And 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,” Judd said, emphasizing that she was privileged to have access to emergency care immediately while many other citizens in the country would struggle.
Before she made it to the hospital, she had to ride on a motorcycle for six hours to get to her destination. Despite that, she still said she was in a privileged position.
“I’m in a lot of love. I’m in a lot of compassion and I’m in a lot of gratitude,” she said. “I thank everyone for their thoughts and their prayers and their support.”
