Gena Rowlands, a celebrated actor and honorary Academy Award recipient, is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, her son, filmmaker Nick Cassavetes, has revealed.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Tuesday, Cassavetes shared that Rowlands has been battling Alzheimer's for five years. Cassavetes directed his mother in the 2004 film "The Notebook," where she portrayed the older version of the character played by Rachel McAdams, a woman with dementia.
"We spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer's and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she's had Alzheimer's," Cassavetes said. "She's in full dementia. And it's so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it's on us.
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A representative for Gena Rowlands confirmed that Nick Cassavetes "speaks for the family."
Rowlands, who received an honorary Oscar in 2015, made 10 films with her husband, John Cassavetes, including 1974's "A Woman Under the Influence" and 1980's "Gloria." She was nominated for an Oscar for both performances and won four Emmy Awards. Her last credited performance was in the 2014 comedy "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks."
Rowlands's mother, actor Lady Rowlands, also had Alzheimer's. During the making of "The Notebook," Gena Rowlands said she channeled her mother.
"I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn't directed the film, I don't think I would have gone for it — it's just too hard," Rowlands told O Magazine in 2004. "It was a tough but wonderful movie.