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Emma Heming Willis has a poignant takeaway from the “tragic” deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
“Caregivers need care too,” Heming Willis, 46, shared in an Instagram video on Monday, March 10.
Heming Willis is, of course, a carer herself to actor husband Bruce Willis, who has frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
“So this is not something I’d usually comment on,” Heming Willis began her video Monday, explaining that she believes “there is some learning” in the deaths of Hackman and his wife.
“It’s just made me think of this broader story and that is that caregivers need care too, and that they are vital and that it is so important that we show up for them so they can continue to show up for their person,” Heming Willis said.
Heming Willis continued, “I think that there’s this common misconception that caregivers, they got it figured out, they got it covered, they’re good. I don’t subscribe to that.”
Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on February 26. He was 95 and she was 65. Arakawa’s cause of death was officially listed as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), a rare infectious disease carried by rodents that begins with flu-like symptoms and progresses rapidly to more severe outcomes including trouble breathing. Hackman died due to hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributing factor.
On Friday, March 7, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said in a press conference that Arakawa died one week before Hackman, though it was unlikely the actor was aware of her death due to his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. “Mr. Hackman probably died around February 18,” she explained. “Based on the circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that Mrs. Hackman died first, likely around February 11.”
In an interview with The New York Times published on Saturday, March 8, Hackman’s friend Tom Allin said that Arakawa was “very protective” of Hackman and told the outlet that he believes Hackman would have died “long ago” without his wife to care for him.
Allin also shared a story from visiting with the couple in 2020 to celebrate Hackman’s 90th birthday. He said that it was clear the actor wasn’t in the best of health, and as a result his wife “just really looked after him.”
