Cognitive decline affects people of all backgrounds, but notable personalities spanning diverse industries, including entertainment, sports, music, art, and literature, have been impacted by dementia.
Entertainment Industry
Actors
- Meryl Streep: known for her performances in films such as The Devil Wears Prada and The Iron Lady, Streep revealed her diagnosis with dementia in 2023.
- Denzel Washington: an actor renowned for his roles in movies like Remember the Titans and training and motivational speaking to promote mental health awareness and combatting discrimination against Black men.
Actresses
- Julia Roberts: an Academy Award-winning actress, most notably known for her roles in Terms of Endearment, Runaway Bride, and Pretty Woman.
- Emma Thomas: wife of Sir Richard Branson, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2022.
Television
- Patrick Stewart: actor known for his roles as Doctor Who and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, revealed he had been living with Parkinson’s disease with dementia since 2009.
- Kathy Bates: Academy-Award winning actress who won an Oscar for her role in Misery and starred in many other iconic films, received her Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2018.
Music Industry
singers
- Tony Bennett: a jazz and pop icon whose career spanned decades, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.
- Neil Young: lead singer of the band, Crosby, Stills & Nash, spoke publicly about his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s and pledged to donate $1 million to Alzheimer’s research annually.
instrumentalists
- Burt Bacharach: known for his songwriting and producing hits for artists like Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, and Michael Jackson.
- Lesley Gore: had a notable singing career and was a popular figure in the early 1960s, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1995.
Art and Design
Artists
- James Brooks: contemporary artist and painter, known for his work with diverse mediums and themes.
- Louise Nevelson: noted for large-scale sculptures and other contemporary sculptures, her work was inspired by her own experiences with dementia.
Fashion Designers
- Zac Posen: contemporary fashion designer, had his first and only showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in June 2013, was later diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s.
Political and Social Activists
- Nancy Reagan: former First Lady, her advocacy for Alzheimer’s research was highlighted by the creation of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, designed to coordinate research and support systems.
- Martin Luther King Jr.: civil rights leader and advocate for social justice, although not publicly known for his connection to dementia, his Alzheimer’s diagnosis came to light during legal proceedings after his death.
Writers and Journalists
- Alice Walker: acclaimed author of books such as The Color Purple, which was adapted into a film, and The Wind Done Gone, a novel set in the American South during the Civil Rights movement, had Alzheimer’s and Lewy body disease, respectively.
- Christopher Hitchens: renowned author, essayist, and sometime filmmaker, who battled esophageal cancer and gallstones, was also diagnosed with diffuse aggressive large B-cell lymphoma with brain involvement.
Dementia does not discriminate based on fame or success, touching individuals from all walks of life, regardless of their background or station in life.
