I know why Gene Hackman died in squalor despite kids & wealth – & why it shames us all
WRAPPERS and packets strewn all over the floor, stacks of paper, half drunk cups and bottles and not a clean work surface in sight – the squalor 95 year old Gene Hackman died in was like something from Hoarder SOS, not the home of a double Oscar-winning actor and multimillionaire.
Yet while the pictures have left the world wondering how on earth he could have come to this – with a younger wife and two daughters only a few hours drive away – I think I know the sad truth which really lies behind the images.
The 95-year-old, who had advanced stage Alzheimer’s, was found dead in his home in February.
His wife Betsy Arakawa had also passed away with post-mortems revealing she contracted Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a virus from the multiple rats and rats nests found at their sprawling property.
The Hollywood star’s tragic end befits a loner, someone without kids to check on them.
But Gene had two daughters living just one state and a few hours drive away. So how and why?
My dad Mick was diagnosed with the same condition as Gene in 2020. He’s 76.
Dad has Alzheimer’s and dementia and he’s got more forgetful and disorientated in the almost five years he’s had his diagnosis – there’s not a day goes by that we don’t chat, even if it’s for a few minutes.
He always starts the call with his usual “hello love, no news or dramas here…” and we often chat about the weather or I try to get him to remember what my 76-year-old mum Irene made him for lunch that day. They’re short chats but they matter.
He forgot years ago how to send text messages but because I know he can still read them I send them frequently, pictures of blossom on the trees or dinner when I’ve made toad in the hole (his favourite).
He lives 205 miles away but I’m taking him to a hospital appointment on Tuesday to give Mum a break.
And while it’ll be exhausting – he’s in a wheelchair – I’m taking him camping this summer which is his favourite thing to do.
He’ll be his usual self – he thinks he can do more than he can, he’ll insist on trying to help light a campfire and think he can go for a walk himself.
My three children Eddie, 21, Sammy, 16 and Annie, 14 will come too and it’ll be like having another child we can’t take our eyes off with us – only one that smokes and likes a whisky occasionally.
Poor Gene had the loving support of a wife, but when the post-mortem showed she died a whole week before him, police say they found no evidence that he had communicated with anyone in the intervening seven days it took for him to pass.
We don’t know what has gone on between the actor and his children – only that his wife Betsy was the sole beneficiary of his will, with the last update in 2005.
And that he confessed that he had been ‘selfish’ as an actor.
In previous interviews, he had talked about how his acting jobs would separate them for three or four months at a time and that his success was always hanging over the heads of his kids.
Whatever happened, to think that it resulted in such a tragically lonely death is heartbreaking and we as a society need to take a long hard look at family dynamics in the 21st century.
We need to take a societal responsibility, not just for people who are on their own though, but for those who raised and reared us
Whatever happened to duty or care for our neighbours and family?
No one should be dying alone, not on hospital trollies, or care homes or in their own homes. We need to take a societal responsibility, not just for people who are on their own though, but for those who raised and reared us.
Whatever the reason, when it comes to the end of life, we are all the same – as Gene’s tragic end proves, money and status don’t come into it.
Other major Alzheimer's breakthroughs
While experts have warned that dementia diagnoses in England have reached record numbers, there have been a number of recent advances against brain robbing diseases.
From “game-changing” drugs gaining approval to blood tests that can spot the condition years before symptoms, here are other major Alzheimer’s breakthroughs.
- A “game-changing” Alzheimer’s drug called donanemab, that slows mental decline by up to 60 per cent has been approved in the United States. A UK decision on whether the drug will become available to patients in the UK with early symptoms is expected imminently.
- A blood test that detects Alzheimer’s up to 15 years before symptoms emerge is set to be made free on the NHS within a year. The new test is cheaper, easier and at least as accurate as the current diagnosis options and works by measuring levels of a protein in the blood called p-tau217.
- Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind test that could predict dementia up to nine years before a diagnosis, with 80 per cent accuracy. It involves analysing network of connections in the brain when it’s in “idle mode” to look for very early signs of the condition.
- Scientists have also put AI to the test, developing machine learning models were able to spot early warning signs of the memory-robbing condition up to seven years before Alzheimer’s symptoms appear.
- A woman who has evaded Alzheimer’s disease despite half her relatives getting it could hold the clues to how to prevent it, with scientists pinpointing a particular gene which they think could help prevent Alzheimer’s from progressing.
‘Confused and scared’
What breaks my heart more than anything is how confused and scared he must have been. Dad looks constantly for Mum when he can’t find her.
He’s bewildered if his usual routine is changed too much. The thought of Gene, who at 95, was looked after by his 65 year old wife, not knowing what to do is tragic.
He most likely had forgotten ‘911‘, the emergency number in the US, too – and I can’t help but think what would happen to my dad in the same situation.
I can say categorically that Dad wouldn’t be on his own any longer than 12 hours.
My brother Michael calls him once a day, he usually checks in on him on his way to work and I usually call him at the end of my working day.
I can say categorically that Dad wouldn’t be on his own any longer than 12 hours
Should the worst happen to Mum, Dad would be alone for a few hours.
Growing up, my Dad – maybe like Gene was for his daughters – was the centre of my universe.
He taught me to tie my shoes and bake bread. He taught me to say please and thank you and how to ride a bike.
He poured everything he had into making me a good version of a human.
He wiped my chin when I spilled, taught me to use a knife and fork and cleaned up after me too many times to count.
It’s not that I owe him anything, it’s a sense of duty more than debt I feel towards him.
Like it’s an honour to be there as his life gets harder and his days left shorter.
I can also guarantee he’s wiped my chin as a baby far more than I’ve had to wipe his as he sometimes spills his food.
He loved me into being, the least I can do is love him out of being.
Poor Gene. My dad loved him in The French Connection as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle. I told him he’d died because he truly was one of his favourite actors.
He asked what happened and I couldn’t bear to tell him.
I knew it’d make his already confused brain with more confusion and fear that it could happen to him.
I told him he went peacefully, and I hope at the very end, he did.
Gene Hackman's family's full statement
Gene Hackman's family has spoken out on the actor's death after he was found dead with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, in their Santa Fe home.
Hackman’s daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, and his granddaughter, Annie, released the statement.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy,” Elizabeth, Leslie, and Annie Hackman said.
“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa.
“We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”