Gena Rowlands, a renowned actress of “A Woman Under the Influence” and “The Notebook,” has Alzheimer’s, according to her son.
Gena Rowlands has been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years, and her son, film director Nick Cassavetes, has revealed.
Cassavetes, in an interview in Entertainment Weekly published Tuesday she said Rowlands was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s for the past five years. For the film “The Notebook,” Cassavetes directed his mother, who portrayed an older form of his character that was played by Rachel McAdams, as a woman suffering from 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 stated. “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 from Rowlands has confirmed Cassavetes “speaks for the family.”
Rowlands, who received an honorary Oscar in 2015 she directed the films along with husband John Cassavetes, including 1974’s “A Woman Under the Influence” and the film of 1980 “Gloria.” The actress was nominated to win an Oscar for both roles. She also received the award for four Emmy awards. Her last performance with Emmys was in the show “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.”
Rowlands’s mother, actress Lady Rowlands, also had Alzheimer’s. In the production”The Notebook, “The Notebook,” Gena Rowlands claimed she was channeling her mom.
“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 said to O magazine in 2004. “It was a tough but wonderful movie.”
