A 'Golden Girl''s Tragic Battle with Dementia

ET has learned that ESTELLE GETTY, 81, the actress who played the lovable and quick-witted Sophia on the hit show "The Golden Girls," is suffering from dementia. Despite recent tabloid rumors that she is dying, Getty's former castmates set the record straight Thursday night, saying she is "not near death ... not near death at all."

Tonight on ET, the cast opens up to our JANN CARL about their friend's battle with dementia.

"Golden Girls" stars BETTY WHITE, BEA ARTHUR and RUE McCLANAHAN reunited in Beverly Hills for the DVD release of the popular show and were quick to express how much they missed Getty at the event. "She should be in on all this," said White, who played the ditzy character of Rose on the show. "I went over there not too long ago and after I left, she told her caregiver that I was a nice lady ... it's just heartbreaking." She continues: "She has better days than others, but none of them are too good right now."

McClanahan recalls the last time she was in touch with Getty. "I spoke with her a few months ago on the phone," she said. "But she didn't know who she was talking to. And she didn't say anything but 'yes.' No matter what I said, she replied, 'yes.'"

Arthur, who played Getty's daughter Dorothy on the show, said there were signs of dementia back when they were still doing the show. "We should have known something was wrong right from the beginning because she had terrible trouble retaining her lines," she told ET.

No doubt, Getty would have joined in the girls' excitement for the three-disc DVD set that contains the entire first-season of the show, which makes its debut on shelves November 23. And Bea reveals what she and her castmates would say if Estelle had a lucid moment, "the three of us would say we love you, we love you Estelle, we love you."

I just saw the interview and almost cried. It's heartbreaking! I pray she is in no pain and that the other 3 Golden Girls don't suffer the same.

:( This is so sad. I'm so glad though that the girls have kept in touch with her over the last months.

Rue was literally crying over Estelle. I also hope that Estelle's not feeling any pain. :(

Is this interview available to view on the internet? I'd like to see it, sad as it may turn out to be...

Ed

This really breaks my heart. Estelle will be in all of our prayers.

If anyone cares to know more about Estelle's disease, dementia, here is some info about it that I copied and pasted -

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What Is Dementia?

Dementia is not a specific disease. It is a descriptive term for a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a number of disorders that affect the brain. People with dementia have significantly impaired intellectual functioning that interferes with normal activities and relationships. They also lose their ability to solve problems and maintain emotional control, and they may experience personality changes and behavioral problems, such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations. While memory loss is a common symptom of dementia, memory loss by itself does not mean that a person has dementia. Doctors diagnose dementia only if two or more brain functions - such as memory, language skills, perception, or cognitive skills including reasoning and judgment - are significantly impaired without loss of consciousness.

There are many disorders that can cause dementia. Some, such as AD, lead to a progressive loss of mental functions. But other types of dementia can be halted or reversed with appropriate treatment.

With AD and many other types of dementia, disease processes cause many nerve cells to stop functioning, lose connections with other neurons, and die. In contrast, normal aging does not result in the loss of large numbers of neurons in the brain.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/alzheimersdisease/detail_alzheimersdisease.htm#What%20Is%20Dementia?

Dementia is a tragic, horrible thing. My Grandmother has Alzheimer's and it breaks my heart on a daily basis.

Originally posted by Edster2973
Is this interview available to view on the internet? I'd like to see it, sad as it may turn out to be...

Ed

There is a Video Clip here (http://et.tv.yahoo.com/tv/2004/11/19/goldengirlsegetty/). Click the 'video' icon on the left of the page.

Sam

Thanks so much for the link. I appreciated seeing it. Thanks so much!

Ed

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! DIMENTIA!!! WHAT A FUNNY NAME FOR A DISEASE!!!!!

Thank you for bein' a friend!

Originally posted by Dennis3264
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! DIMENTIA!!! WHAT A FUNNY NAME FOR A DISEASE!!!!!

Thank you for bein' a friend!

Be careful Dennis! You wouldn't want to be accused too much of being compassionate.

As if the plight of Estelle's disease wasn't sad enough, you come along and demonstrate something even sadder (and no, I am NOT referring to your misspelling of the word 'dementia')...


Ed

My grandmother had Alzheimer's for the last several years of her life and it only got worse and worse. It breaks my heart thinking about it because she just wasn't the same person anymore. Her personality died long before her body did. I can only hope that none of you will ever have to experience the pain of seeing a loved one go through this horrible disease because it is just awful to say the least.

I guess we should be thankful that Estelle has such a loving & supporting group of family and friends to take care of her during this time. That's all we can really ask for besides keeping her in our prayers.

I took care of an older person who started to have dementia- it really is like that episode where they break the elderly lady out of the retirement home- if they are at home, it is a 24 hour job and you need more than one person to care for them and yes, they start saying "Who are you?' to their own children and spouses.

I guess one small saving grace is that they sometimes don't know it's happening to them- it sneaks up on them- I had a friend who had dementia for about two months and he recovered, he got his mind back for 6 months and had no memory at all what had happened to him- that whole period was a blank- it's very sad but what is sadder is that we as a society don't talk much about the elderly and what happens to them as they get older- it literally took 3 people around the clock to take care of 1 person. You can't leave them alone at night because they will get up and fall- they have hallucinations- they think people are in the room or ringing the door bell or people are calling from the other room- it's very tragic.