Gena Rowlands lives with Alzheimer’s disease.
A four-time Emmy winner and two-time Golden Globe winner, Gena is a screen icon beloved by generations of fans.
She is perhaps best known to younger audiences for playing the older Allie in the romance film The notebook.
And that’s where this story takes an ironic turn.
![The Notebook Star Gena Rowlands Has Alzheimer's-Like Character 5 Premiere of The Notebook with James Garner and Gena Rowlands](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-50985047-1024x684.jpg)
![The Notebook Star Gena Rowlands Has Alzheimer's-Like Character 6 Premiere of The Notebook with James Garner and Gena Rowlands](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-50985047-1024x684.jpg)
Gena Rowlands’ Alzheimer’s Diagnosis and How She’s Doing
Gena Rowlands’ son Nick Cassavetes shared the news of his mother’s condition in a new interview with Weekly entertainment.
Nick, who directed his mother in 2004 The notebooksaid Rowlands is “in the midst of dementia”.
The diagnosis is somewhat surreal, given that Gena played a woman with dementia in the beloved film. She played the older version of Rachel McAdams’ Allie, with James Garner and Ryan Gosling starring as the older version and younger version of her love interest, Noah.
“I got my mom to play the 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,” Cassavetes said. “She has complete dementia. And it’s so crazy – we lived it, she took action and now it’s on us.”
Unfortunately, it seems, the disease runs in the family.
![The Notebook Star Gena Rowlands Has Alzheimer's-Like Character 7 Gena Rowlands has Alzheimer's](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-513010096-1024x682.jpg)
![The Notebook Star Gena Rowlands Has Alzheimer's-Like Character 8 Gena Rowlands has Alzheimer's](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-513010096-1024x682.jpg)
Gena’s Lifelong Battle with Alzheimer’s
Gena Rowlands’ mother, actress Lady Rowlands, also had Alzheimer’s disease. While promoting “The Notebook” in 2004, Rowlands told O magazine that she channeled her mother while playing Allie.
“This last one – ‘The Notebook,’ based on the Nicholas Sparks novel – was particularly difficult because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s,” Rowlands told the publication at the time. “I went through this with my mom, and if Nick hadn’t directed the movie, I don’t think he would have done it—it’s really hard. It was a difficult but wonderful film.”
History has a nasty way of repeating itself, it seems