New details have emerged regarding Diane Ladd’s death at age 89.
The Oscar-nominated actress’ cause of death was ruled as acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure, per a death certificate obtained by People on Monday, November 17. The conditions leading to Ladd’s death included an interstitial lung disease, which had been occurring for years, as well as esophageal dysmotility, which was listed as another contributing condition.
Ladd was cremated on November 10, the outlet reported.
News broke of Ladd’s death on November 3, when her daughter, actress Laura Dern, paid tribute to her mother via a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, California,” Dern, 58, wrote at the time. “She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created. We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
In the wake of her death, Laura’s father and Ladd’s ex-husband, Bruce Dern, honored the actress.
“Diane was a tremendous actress and I feel like, a bit of a ‘hidden treasure’ until she ran into David Lynch,” Bruce, 89, said in a statement to Us Weekly on November 3. “When he cast her as Laura‘s mom in Wild at Heart it felt like the world then really understood her brilliance. She was a great value as a decades-long board member of SAG, giving a real actress’ point of view.”
“She lived a good life,” Bruce continued. “She saw everything the way it was. She was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious. But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter. And for that I will be forever grateful to her.”
Alongside Laura, the exes also shared late daughter Diane, who died at 18 months after a drowning accident in 1962. After their 1969 split, Ladd went on to remarry William A. Shea Jr. from 1969 to 1977 before tying the knot with Robert Charles Hunter in 1999. The couple were married for more than two decades until his death earlier this year.
Diane Keaton’s cause of death has officially been confirmed. Keaton’s family shared in a statement to People on Wednesday, October 15, that the Oscar-winner died of pneumonia on Saturday, October 11. “The Keaton family are very grateful for the extraordinary messages of love and support they have received these past few days on behalf of […]
Hunter, who was the former CEO of PepsiCo Food Systems, died in Fort Worth, Texas, while visiting his children, his family confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter in August. He was 77 at the time of his death.
Years before Ladd’s death, Laura revealed that her mother had been given six months to live following a health scare with her lungs in 2019.
“She was exposed to pesticides being sprayed in the neighborhood and was not notified and realized that she had scarring on her lungs,” Laura explained during an appearance on Today in April 2023. “And they said, ‘If you can get her walking, expand her lung capacity, maybe it will help.’”
In an effort to help her recovery, Ladd and Laura would take walks — and record conversations for the Big Little Lies star’s kids to hear one day.
“It was the beginning of 2019 that we started these walks, and they said, ‘Your mother will never be here in six months,’” Laura continued. “But from walking and not believing, as my mom said to [Hoda Kotb], ‘They say they’re practicing medicine, so I’m not going to believe one doctor, I’m going to go to several and I’m going to keep fighting with alternative modalities and my daughter and I’s love for each other.’”
