Ashley Judd is recovering after a very scary accident.
On an Instagram Live with The New York Times‘ Nicholas Kristof on February 12, the Double penalty The actress revealed that she seriously injured her leg during an excursion in the Congo rainforest, when she tripped over a fallen tree in the dark.
She spoke from her hospital bed about how she was now in an “ICU trauma unit in beautiful South Africa, which took me from Congo, a country I love deeply and which, unfortunately, is not equipped to deal with catastrophic injuries like I had.” She explained that the experience further illuminated the privilege she had as a wealthy person visiting the Congo.
As she explained to Kristof: “The difference between a Congolese person and me is the disaster insurance that allowed me, 55 hours after my accident, to reach an operating table in South Africa”.
She detailed the “incredibly distressing” experience, which “started with five hours lying on the forest floor” until it could be evacuated. From there, she spent more than an hour in a hammock being carried by her “Congolese brothers”, who were finally able to bring her back to camp. She went through the ordeal “howling like a wild animal” and biting a stick to try to alleviate some of the pain.