Naomi Judd discussed her swollen appearance and other side effects from her life-threatening battle with 'severe treatment-resistant depression.'

'I don't look like I usually look. My hands shake real bad - medication - nothing I can do about it,' the retired country crooner - who turns 71 next month - told ABC News on Tuesday.

'And my face, I feel like a balloon. My face is all swollen because the medication. I really haven't been eating ice-cream and candy. I really haven't.'

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'My face is all swollen because the medication': Naomi Judd discussed the side effects from her life-threatening battle with 'severe treatment-resistant depression'

The five-time Grammy winner detailed her several stints in psychiatric wards and more in her new 320-page memoir River of Time (in stores now) co-authored by Marcia Wilkie.

In stores now! The 70-year-old country crooner detailed her psychiatric ward stints in her 320-page memoir

'They think, because they see me in rhinestones, you know, with glitter in my hair, that really is who I am. I'm sort of a fantasy because I want to provide that for them,' Judd explained to Robin Roberts.

'But then I would come home and not leave the house for three weeks and not get out of my pyjamas, not practice normal hygiene. It was really bad.'

Naomi - born Diana - continued: 'If I live through this, I want someone to be able to see that they can survive, because there's 40M of us out there.'

'Nobody was there for' the Girls Night Out songstress when her Uncle Charlie molested her at the tender age of 3 1/2 years old.

'I never acknowledged all the bad stuff that people did to me,' the Kentucky-born redhead said of her reasons for writing the tome.

'I had to realize that in a way I had to parent myself. We all have this inner child, and I needed, for the first time in my life, to realize that I got a raw deal, Okay, now I'm a big girl. Put on your big girl pants and deal with it.'

Pictured with husband Larry Strickland (L): The five-time Grammy winner recalled, 'I would come home and not leave the house for three weeks and not get out of my pyjamas, not practice normal hygiene. It was really bad'

'Radical acceptance': Judd said of her reasons for writing the tome, 'If I live through this, I want someone to be able to see that they can survive, because there's 40M of us out there'

Judd's rapid descent immediately followed a 2010 concert tour and OWN reality series she did with her 52-year-old daughter and ex-bandmate Wynonna.

'I love her but there are just times we need a break from one another. We're still a little estranged from each other, and that happens with mothers and daughters,' the mother-of-two explained.

'I'm always telling her, "If I'd known better, I would have done better." So Wy bore the brunt of all of the mistakes I made and we talk about them. We've been through a lot of therapy together.'

Meanwhile, Naomi's relationship with her youngest daughter, 48-year-old Golden Globe-nominated actress and neighbor Ashley, is stronger than ever.

Breaking point: Naomi's rapid descent immediately followed a 2010 concert tour and OWN reality series she did with her 52-year-old daughter and ex-bandmate Wynonna

The mother-of-two explained: 'I love her but there are just times we need a break from one another. We're still a little estranged from each other' (pictured in 1984)

The Kentucky-born redhead continued: 'I'm always telling her, "If I'd known better, I would have done better." So Wy bore the brunt of all of the mistakes I made and we talk about them. We've been through a lot of therapy together'

'We're so stinking much alike!' Meanwhile, Naomi's relationship with her youngest daughter, 48-year-old Golden Globe-nominated actress and neighbor Ashley, is stronger than ever

'Ashley and I are so stinking much alike!' admitted the An Evergreen Christmas actress, who's now 'content and at peace.'

'I mean we have the same mannerisms. We both read a whole lot. We both love new places. I mean there's such similarities.'

Judd has penned seven other books including her 2005 children's book Gertie the Goldfish and the Christmas Surprise.

The flame-haired matriarch hasn't recorded new music since a 2003 duet with Wynonna called Flies on the Butter (You Can't Go Home Again).