Screen legend Joanne Woodward’s brave 16-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease is coming to an end as family friends revealed the 93-year-old is in her final days, OK! has learned.
A friend revealed Paul Newman’s widow — who won a Best Actress Oscar for 1957’s The Three Faces of Eve — now receives at-home hospice care. She’s said to be surrounded by the daughters she shared with Newman — Nell, 64, Melissa, 61, and Claire, 57 — as well as Paul’s girls Susan, 70, and Stephanie, 69, with his first wife, Jackie Witte. “At this point, the best that can be done for Joanne is to keep her comfortable while waiting for the inevitable,” noted the friend. “It’s a tribute to her courage and determination she has lived with this debilitating disease as long as she has.”
Woodward’s passing will come with a silver lining as her estimated $50 million estate will be divvied up between the daughters for their favorite charitable causes. When Paul died in 2008, half his fortune went to his Newman’s Own Foundation and other charities, while Joanne received the rest.
Newman’s Own has been the subject of controversy. Susan and Nell sued the foundation last year after the board of directors slashed the amount of charitable funds Paul’s kids were allowed to distribute from $400,000 to $200,000 a year. “Paul’s daughters were blessed with their father’s passion for making the world a better place,” said the friend. “With Joanne’s passing, there will be plenty of money to fund their individual passion projects.”
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Though Paul and Joanne's marriage looked perfect from the outside, Melissa previously admitted they didn't always get along.
"There is this fairy tale of my parents’ perfect marriage," she shared. "There was a vibe of tension in the house that would sort of come and go."
"My mother was always the rock, even when she said, ‘I’m drawing the line. You either get your act together or I’m out,’" she continued. "I think dad respected her because he knew she wasn’t bluffing."
