Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman made a candid and heartfelt confession about death more than two decades before he and his wife were found unresponsive at their New Mexico home.
Gene, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, were both found dead along with their dog at their Santa Fe home on Wednesday (February 26).
No cause of death has yet been confirmed for the couple, though a statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff has confirmed that there does not appear to be any foul play involved.
“This is an active investigation,” the sheriff’s office added.
Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa married in 1991 (Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Tributes for Gene and Betsy have been pouring in in the wake of the news, and now, an interview Gene conducted in 2004 has resurfaced due to the actor’s comments about the end of life.
Gene shared his thoughts on death in an interview with Larry King, when the interviewer asked the Unforgiven star what he ‘fears’.
“Do you worry about your health?,” King asked.
Gene then responded: “I try to take care of myself. I don’t have a lot of fears.”
However, he then went on to open up about death, saying: “I have the normal fear of passing away, I guess we all think about that, especially [as] you get to be a certain age.”
Gene made a candid reference to Betsy as he said he wanted his wife and family to be ‘taken care of’, adding: “Other than that I don’t have a lot of fears.”
The actor’s comments came just a few years before Gene told Reuters in 2008 that he was ‘not going to act any longer’.
Gene explained at the time he simply didn’t ‘want to do it any longer’.
Prior to his retirement, Gene firmly established himself as a Hollywood star thanks to his performances in titles like The Conversation, Superman and The French Connection, the latter of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Gene Hackman won two Oscars for his work (Evening Standard/Getty Images)
The actor married Betsy in 1991, following a previous 30-year relationship with his first wife, Faye Maltese.
Sharing the news of Gene and Betsy’s death, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office said: “On 26 February, 2025, at approximately 1:45pm, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and a dog were found deceased.”
Gene has been remembered by fans as ‘one of the greatest actors of his, or anyone’s generation’.
One tribute reads: “He was a powerhouse, as adept at comedy as he was drama. Today is a very sad day, we’ve lost a legend. Gene was a giant of cinema. R.I.P Gene Hackman.”
Malcolm in the Middle’s Frankie Muniz has opened up about his time as a child actor.
He starred on the hit sitcom, which was successful enough to make him a multi-millionaire before his 20th birthday.
Frankie, now 38, was just 11 years old when he first began acting on the show, which also starred Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston.
By the time he turned 19 eight years later, he was worth $40 million.
Following the success of Malcolm in the Middle, he also starred in Disney’s Agent Cody Banks, Racing Stripes and My Dog Skip, as well as guest appearances on Lizzie McGuire and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
But the move to Los Angeles to pursue the acting dream may have had an unforeseen impact for him and his family.
Speaking on the latest episode of I’m a Celeb Australia, he opened up to his fellow campmates about his experience as a young actor.
J. Vespa/WireImage for Teen Vogue
According to Muniz, the move to LA from his childhood home in North Carolina meant that his mom moved out with him, leading to the family being separated.
He said: “Me and my mom went, but my sister stayed with my dad in North Carolina.
“But my mom and dad ended up getting a divorce during that time.
“So in that sense it’s kind of sad to think about that it really did separate the family.”
The actor added: “I don’t know how much positive it brought to the family. I wasn’t a part of the family since I was 11 because that’s when I left.”
Even at the age of 17 in 2003, he had doubts about his future in acting, saying to CBS at the time: “I still don’t know if I want to be an actor. I still don’t know if that’s what I want to do when I grow up.”
Graythen/Getty Images
He added: “I always said when I got to my first million, we shouldn’t be talking about money, but when I got to my first million, I was rich.
“I’m waiting for a hundred, and then I’ll be done … because that’s enough.”
Frankie has now left acting for an extremely different career as a NASCAR driver and he is hoping to make it to the top of the game in NASCAR.
Speaking to CNBC’s series Make It in 2024, he explained that he’d had wanted to ‘take advantage of having the opportunity to do things’ as he felt he was ‘running out of time’.
He said: “There’s a lot of things in my life I’ve wanted to try. And I’ve wanted to see if I could find success in these businesses.
“And fortunately, because of what I got as a child actor, it gave me the opportunity to step back and try those other things. It gave me the freedom to do that.
“And I’m forever grateful for that.”
Warning: this article discusses the death of a child which some readers may find distressing.
The death of a child is one of the hardest things someone could go through, and days before her passing, Antonya Cooper revealed heartbreaking details regarding her seven-year-old son’s death in 1981.
As she lived out her final days suffering from terminal breast, pancreatic, and liver cancer, the 77-year-old founder of Neuroblastoma UK admitted to assisting in her terminally ill child’s death over 40 years ago to put him out of his misery.
Antonya Cooper’s son, Hamish, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in 1979. (PA Real Life)
Cooper’s son, Hamish, was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer typically found in children, in 1979. At just five-years-old, Hamish was expected to survive three months following his diagnosis. However, the child instead survived 16 months of treatment that, while extending his life, negatively impacted his body physically.
Because of her son’s constant and unending pain, Cooper made the decision to give Hamish a large dose of morphine, ending his life before his severe and aggressive cancer could do any more damage.
“I feel very strongly that at the point of Hamish telling me he was in pain, and asking me if I could remove his pain, he knew, he knew somewhere what was going to happen,” Cooper explained to BBC News.
Antonya Cooper put her son out of his misery in 1981 at the age of seven. (PA Real Life)
In the United Kingdom, assisted death of this kind–commonly known as euthanasia–is illegal, which was something that Cooper was well aware of when she confessed to her actions.
“It was the right thing to do,” Cooper reaffirmed, “My son was facing the most horrendous suffering and intense pain, I was not going to allow him to go through that.”
“If they come 43 years after I have allowed Hamish to die peacefully, then I would have to face the consequences. But they would have to be quick, because I’m dying too.”
When speaking about leaving humans to suffer instead of helping them die peacefully, Cooper spoke rather bluntly about the subject: “We don’t do it to our pets. Why should we do it to humans?”
Antonya Cooper passed in July 2024. (PA Real Life)
Cooper was an advocate for changing the laws concerning assisted death, which have remained illegal in the UK even four decades after Hamish’s death. As it currently stands, euthanasia could result in up to 14 years in prison if found guilty.
The Neuroblastoma UK founder spoke to PA Real Life about the laws, saying: “The whole point of assisted dying is to be able to seek a kind end for yourself if you know you’re going anyway and not to be wracked with pain and not to be testing the facilities of some local loving hospice.”
Chris Hemsworth is not retiring – just yet.
The Thor actor sparked a frenzy in recent years after seemingly admitting that he was retiring from the film industry after learning that he has a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease.
Hemsworth made the discovery as party of his Discovery+ series Limitless, which saw the actor look into how we can live better for longer.
One episode in particular was focused on memory and Hemsworth had his brain analyzed.
His genetic makeup was found to have two copies of the gene APOE4 – one from his mother, the other from his father- which studies have linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Soon after receiving the news, the 40-year-old opted to take some time off from acting – with many pinning this as being down to his Alzheimer’s discovery.
But this wasn’t the case as it turns out Hemsworth had already planned to take a break.
In fact, the well-earned break was to spend time with his children; India Rose, 13, and ten-year-old twins Tristan and Sasha, whom he shares with wife, Elsa Pataky.
Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth with their sons, Sacha and Tristan. (Don Arnold/WireImage)
With the reason for his Hollywood hiatus being misconstrued, Hemsworth was left feeling ‘pissed off’.
“It really kind of pissed me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this,” he revealed in a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
“No matter how much I said ‘This is not a death sentence,’ the story became that I have dementia and I’m reconsidering life and retiring and so on.”
While Hemsworth’s Alzheimer’s discovery didn’t spark his acting break, it did encourage him to make some lifestyle changes.
Dr. Peter Attia MD is a doctor who specialises in longevity, and informed Hemsworth of his increased risk on his series, Limitless.
Hemsworth has a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease. (Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
To lower his chances of his genetic predisposition developing into Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Attia urged Hemsworth to continue doing regular exercise (which, from the looks of physique, he most definitely does).
Apparently brushing and flossing your teeth can also help as it reduces systemic inflammation.
Regular sauna trips can also prove beneficial, as well as learning another language as studies have indicated that people who speak more than one language delay symptoms developing compared to monolingual people. ¿Quien sabe?
Almost 20 years on from Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt’s divorce, and many people still aren’t over it.
The two Hollywood powerhouses wed in 2000 before calling time on their marriage in 2005.
A statement released by the pair in January 2005 announcing the news of their separation read: “We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate.
“For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media.”
It went on: “This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another.”
The speculation mentioned in the statement was in reference to Pitt‘s rumored romance with his Mr & Mrs Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie.
It was believed that the Ocean’s 11 actor had left Aniston for Jolie.
While they denied this, the pair did go on to date and were in a relationship for over a decade until their divorce in 2019.
Tomb Raider star Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, just two years after she and Pitt tied the knot.
But prior to their romance beginning, apparently Pitt had been honest with then-wife Aniston about being attracted to Jolie.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were together for 12 years. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Aniston’s pal and Friends co-star Courteney Cox previously revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair: “I don’t think he started an affair physically, but I think he was attracted to her.
“There was a connection, and he was honest about that with Jen. Most of the time, when people are attracted to other people, they don’t tell.”
Cox added: “At least he was honest about it. It was an attraction that he fought for a period of time.”
Aniston had reportedly been going through a difficult time after Friends finished its ten season run in 2004, and according to insiders, Pitt – who busy filming with Jolie – ‘just wasn’t there for her’.
Exes Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt wed in 2000. (Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
An insider told People at the time: “They gradually lost sight of themselves as individuals.
“And despite their nice lifestyle and having everything they might want, they weren’t happy. They lost a sense of self.”
While their marriage ended, it seems as if Aniston and Pitt have always remained on good terms.
In fact, at the 2020 SAG Awards the pair sent the internet into a frenzy when they were seen sharing a sweet moment together after Pitt won an award for his role in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
