Legendary actor Gena Rowlands has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, just like her character in The Notebook, and fans are absolutely devastated by the news.
Rowlands' son, director Nick Cassavetes, revealed that the honorary Oscar recipient and four-time Emmy winner has been living with Alzheimer's for the last five years.
Rowlands played the older version of Rachel McAdams' character Allie, who suffered from the very same illness in the 2004 film.
Cassavetes, who directed The Notebook, told Entertainment Weekly:
"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."
“She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
Rowlands' own mother, Lady, also had Alzheimer's disease.
In fact, the actor shared in 2004 that she was able to draw from her own experience to portray Allie.
"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."
"It was a tough but wonderful movie."
People on social media shared their heartbreak over the news.
While discussing the film in celebration of its 20th anniversary this week, Cassavetes recounted "the one time" he got in "trouble" with his mother on set.
“We go to reshoots, and now it’s one of those things where mama’s pissed and I had asked her, ‘Can you do it, mom?’ She goes, ‘I can do anything."
And she wasn't lying.
"I promise you, on my father’s life, this is true: Teardrops came flying out of her eyes when she saw (Garner), and she burst into tears."
"And I was like, okay, well, we got that..."
"It’s the one time I was in trouble on set.”
Rowlands' career spanned seven decades, beginning with Broadway before being on TV in the 1950s.
The icon soon after began her film career, appearing in 40 movies, the latest of which was 2014's Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. She also appeared in the 2017 short Unfortunate Circumstances.
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