“I had a very unsafe and unstable childhood about ten months out of the year,” the “De-Lovely” actress told Town & Country magazine in its latest issue. “I didn’t have my normal, natural little girl needs met.”

Judd says she once even skipped an entire week of school as a child while her mom, country music star Naomi Judd, was away touring. “I didn’t have a ride and I’d gotten ashamed of calling friends,” she said. “I had my first childhood depression at eight – severe, intense, hole-in-the-soul loneliness. No one noticed.”

Now the 40-year-old is focusing on others, noticably in her role as a Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS, an organization which delivers products at services to poor populations. “It’s unmistakable to me that it’s a holy and righteous thing to be with the poor,” Judd said. “Ideally, I’m going to do human-rights work the rest of my life.” 

Read more about Judd’s work with YouthAIDS in the June issue of Town & Country, on newstands today.