{"id":33367,"date":"2025-04-19T16:22:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T16:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33367\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T16:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T16:22:18","slug":"i-know-why-gene-hackman-died-in-squalor-despite-kids-wealth-why-it-shames-us-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33367\/","title":{"rendered":"I know why Gene Hackman died in squalor despite kids & wealth – & why it shames us all"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Gene<\/a><\/p>\n

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Gene Hackman, who had advanced stage Alzheimer\u2019s, was found dead in his home in February\"Overstuffed<\/a><\/p>\n

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One of Gene and wife Betsy Arakawa’s rooms filled with dry-cleaned clothes and shoesCredit: Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office\"Aerial<\/a><\/p>\n

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The \u00a35 million home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the Hollywood couple was foundCredit: AP\"Gene<\/a><\/p>\n

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Gene as Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French ConnectionCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The 95-year-old, who had advanced stage<\/a> Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a>, was found dead<\/a> in his home<\/a> in February. <\/p>\n

His wife Betsy Arakawa<\/a> had also passed away with post-mortems<\/a> revealing she contracted Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome<\/a>, a virus from the multiple rats and rats nests found at their sprawling property<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hollywood <\/a>star\u2019s tragic end befits a loner, someone without kids to check on them. <\/p>\n

But Gene<\/a> had two daughters<\/a> living just one state and a few hours drive away. So how and why?<\/p>\n

My dad Mick was diagnosed with the same condition<\/a> as Gene in 2020. He’s 76. <\/p>\n

Dad has Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia<\/a> and he\u2019s got more forgetful and disorientated<\/a> in the almost five years he\u2019s had his diagnosis <\/a>–\u00a0 there’s not a day goes by that we don’t chat, even if it’s for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

He always starts the call with his usual \u201chello love, no news or dramas here\u2026\u201d 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\u2019re short chats but they matter.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve made toad in the hole (his favourite).<\/p>\n

He lives 205 miles away but I\u2019m taking him to a hospital appointment on Tuesday to give Mum a break. <\/p>\n

And while it\u2019ll be exhausting – he\u2019s in a wheelchair – I\u2019m taking him camping this summer which is his favourite thing to do.<\/p>\n

Gene Hackman\u2019s cause of death revealed after actor, wife Betsy Arakawa & dog found dead in \u2018suspicious\u2019 mansion mystery<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Poor Gene had the loving support of a wife, but when the post-mortem showed she died a whole week before him<\/a>, police <\/a>say they found no evidence that he had communicated with anyone in the intervening seven days it took for him to pass.<\/p>\n

We don’t know what has gone on between the actor and his children <\/a>– only that his wife Betsy was the sole beneficiary of his will, with the last update in 2005.<\/p>\n

And that he confessed that he had been ‘selfish’ as an actor. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Whatever happened, to think that it resulted in such a tragically lonely death<\/a> is heartbreaking and we as a society need to take a long hard look at family dynamics in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

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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<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Whatever happened to duty or care for our neighbours and family?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, when it comes to the end of life, we are all the same – as Gene’s tragic end proves<\/a>, money <\/a>and status don’t come into it.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a><\/p>\n

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The star couple’s German shepherd was found just feet from Betsy’s bodyCredit: Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office\"Gene<\/a><\/p>\n

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Police say they found no evidence that Gene had communicated with anyone in the last seven days before his passingCredit: Getty\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

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Writer Clare O\u2019Reilly pictured with her dad Mick, who lives with Alzheimer’s and dementiaCredit: Supplied<\/p>\n

Other major Alzheimer’s breakthroughs<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

From “game-changing” drugs gaining approval to blood tests that can spot the condition years before symptoms, here are other major Alzheimer’s breakthroughs.<\/p>\n