Gena Rowlands Has Alzheimer’s Disease

Director Nick Cassavetes revealed that his mother, screen icon Gena Rowlands, is living with Alzheimer’s disease and “in full dementia.” Cassavetes, who directed Rowlands in The Notebook as a woman with dementia, expressed the surreal nature of the situation. “I got my mom to play older Allie, and 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,” he said. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.” Rowlands is a four-time Emmy winner and two-time Golden Globe winner. She also received an honorary Oscar in 2015. Her last film role was in the 2014 comedy Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.