Diane Ladd's Cause of Death Revealed as Lung Disease and Respiratory Failure
Fresh information has surfaced concerning the passing of Diane Ladd at 89 years old.
According to a death certificate procured by People on Monday, November 17, the Academy Award-nominated performer's demise was attributed to acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure. Underlying factors contributing to Ladd's death involved an interstitial lung disease, a condition she had suffered from for several years, along with esophageal dysmotility, also noted as a contributing ailment.
The publication indicated that Ladd underwent cremation on November 10.
Reports of Ladd's passing first emerged on November 3, as her daughter, fellow actress Laura Dern, honored her mother in a statement released to The Hollywood Reporter.
Laura Dern Reflects on Her Mother Diane Ladd Being Told She Had Six Months to Live
“My incredible inspiration and the deepest blessing of a mother, Diane Ladd, departed this morning with me by her side, in her Ojai, California residence,” Dern, 58, penned then. “She embodied the finest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist, and compassionate soul that one could only imagine in dreams. We were truly fortunate to have her. She now soars with her celestial companions.”
Following her passing, Bruce Dern, Laura's father and Ladd's former spouse, paid tribute to the esteemed performer.
“Diane possessed immense acting talent, and in my opinion, was somewhat of an 'unheralded gem' until her collaboration with David Lynch,” Bruce, 89, conveyed in a November 3 statement to Us Weekly. “Upon her casting as Laura's mother in Wild at Heart, it seemed the global audience truly recognized her genius. Her contributions as a long-serving SAG board member were invaluable, always offering an authentic actress' perspective.”
“She experienced a fulfilling existence,” Bruce added. “She perceived reality exactly as it presented itself. She was an excellent collaborator with her peers in acting. She was humorous, astute, and kind. Yet, paramount for me, she was an extraordinary mother to our remarkable and gifted daughter. For this, my gratitude towards her will be everlasting.”
In addition to Laura, the former couple also had their late daughter Diane, who tragically passed away at 18 months old in a 1962 drowning incident. Following their separation in 1969, Ladd wed William A. Shea Jr. from 1969 to 1977, subsequently marrying Robert Charles Hunter in 1999. Their union spanned over twenty years until his own passing earlier in the current year.
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Hunter, who previously served as CEO of PepsiCo Food Systems, passed away in Fort Worth, Texas, during a visit with his children, a detail his family corroborated to The Hollywood Reporter in August. He had reached 77 years of age at the time of his demise.
Several years prior to Ladd's passing, Laura disclosed that her mother had received a six-month prognosis after experiencing a pulmonary health crisis in 2019.
“She encountered neighborhood pesticides being disseminated without prior warning and subsequently discovered scarring on her lungs,” Laura detailed during an April 2023 segment on Today. “And medical professionals advised, ‘Should you encourage her to walk and increase her lung volume, it might provide some benefit.’”
To aid her recuperation, Ladd and Laura regularly embarked on walks — and documented their discussions for the Big Little Lies actress’s children to listen to in the future.
“We initiated these walks in early 2019, at which point she was told, ‘Your mother won't be with us in half a year,’” Laura went on. “However, through consistent walking and a refusal to accept the prognosis, as my mother told [Hoda Kotb], ‘They are merely practicing medicine, so I won't rely on a single physician; I'll seek multiple opinions and persist in battling with complementary treatments and the mutual affection my daughter and I share.’”
