Hollywood star's heartbreaking health update
<p>Gena Rowlands's son has shared his mother's heartbreaking health battle, that is reminiscent of one of her most iconic movie character's similar health issue.</p>
<p>The 94-year-old Golden Globe winner who portrayed an older version of Rachel McAdam’s character, Allie, in the 2004 film<em> The Notebook</em>, has been battling Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years.</p>
<p>While discussing the film's 20 year anniversary, Nick Cassavetes, the director of the movie and Rowlands’ son, revealed his mother’s diagnosis. </p>
<p>“I got my mum 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,” Cassavetes told <em><a href="https://ew.com/the-notebook-star-gena-rowlands-has-alzheimers-8668642">Entertainment Weekly</a></em> of Rowlands’ character, who also had dementia. </p>
<p>“She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”</p>
<p>Back in 2004, Rowlands — whose mother, actress Lady Rowlands, also suffered from the disease — explained why playing Allie was “particularly hard.”</p>
<p>“This last one — The Notebook, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks — was particularly hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s,” she told <em><a href="https://www.oprah.com/spirit/gena-rowlands-aha-moment">O magazine</a></em>. </p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p><em>Image credits: New Line Cinema/Demmie Todd/Warner Bros/Spring Creek/Kobal/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p>
