Actress Rita Wilson Became an Alzheimer's Advocate to Honor Her

CELEBRITY PROFILES APRIL/MAY 2019 BY ABBY ELLIN Actress Rita Wilson Became an Alzheimer’s Advocate to Honor Her Mother Aer her mother died of the disease, Wilson volunteered to raise awareness and funds on behalf of others with the illness.

Rita Wilson, who appears in the new movie Gloria Bell and has played Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway, comes from strong stock. Her mother, Dorothy, was born in New York City, the daughter of Greek immigrants. When Dorothy was a child, her parents returned to Sotira, their village in a mountainous region on the border with Albania, for a vacation with their children. Dorothy's father died on that trip; with four children under age 10, her mother chose to remain in Greece. Rita Wilson has become an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Association to honor her mother. Photo by Jim Jordan

When World War II ended, the family planned to leave. The country was in the midst of a civil war and politically and economically unstable. Dorothy's mother was put in touch with people who could help them escape and was told she was going to be sent a letter with directions, but someone had to stay behind to receive it. Dorothy, who was about 19 at the time, volunteered to do so and meet up with her mother later that night—an arrangement that required trekking through formidable mountains, alone, in the dark.

She remained in the family home to receive the letter. Once it arrived, she hiked up and down the mountains on her own, and was reunited with her mother. The family made it back to New York, where Dorothy took a job in a factory as a seamstress. She eventually met Rita's father, Hassan Ibrahimoff, who had emigrated from Bulgaria in 1949. Their daughter, Margarita Ibrahimoff, known as Rita, was born in Los Angeles in 1956. Four years later, Hassan Ibrahimoff changed the family name to Wilson.

Although Wilson had heard her mother's story many times, she was still amazed when she saw the mountains up close on a trip in 1995—her mother's ﬁrst time back to the village in nearly 50 years. "My mother had horrible anxiety about returning because she thought the Communists were going to see her," Wilson says. "They left everything—their clothes, their furniture. My mom said she had nightmares about being detained by the Communists and prohibited from leaving." Dorothy was a model of resilience and resourcefulness throughout Wilson's life. Not only did she save her family, she also sewed almost all Rita's clothes, along with the family's curtains and bedspreads. She could look at sewing patterns in a store and then re-create them identically at home, says Wilson.

Those qualities made her descent into dementia—which began not long after Wilson's father died in 2010—even more difﬁcult for her children. As she declined, this once brave, capable woman could no longer sew, cook, or recognize her children.

Early Signs Following her husband's death, Dorothy began to deteriorate both emotionally and mentally. "It started with her saying that she couldn't remember how to get somewhere. I couldn't believe it because she loved driving and had her routines down. I thought [losing her sense of direction] was unusual," says Wilson. "I said, 'Mom, everyone forgets things occasionally.' Then she started falling, but we thought, 'Well, she's old, and that's part of the aging process.'"

But there were other things Wilson couldn't brush off: "Mom couldn't remember how to get to my house. She would get lost. She stopped crocheting and cooking. She didn't remember people who were close friends," she says.

When Wilson and her two siblings brought their mother to UCLA Medical Center for a doctor's appointment, her examination revealed even more deﬁcits. Asked if she knew where she was, she said she thought she was at a school, Wilson recalls. When the doctor instructed her to draw the face of a clock, she couldn't do it. "The numbers were outside the circle and not in the correct order," Wilson says. Questioned about the names of streets she had driven every day for decades, her mother had no idea.

A diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in 2010 was traumatic for Wilson and her siblings. "Being so close to her, seeing her slip away, it was a slow grieving process for our relationship, for her, for that inevitable day in the future," Wilson says. "My mother became like a child, and I became like the parent. The hardest things to witness were her inability to be herself and the loss of her sense of humor."

Wilson recalls watching her mother try to fry an egg while the sleeve of her robe was hovering over the ﬂame. "She had no awareness that she was perilously close to setting herself on ﬁre," she says.

Soon Dorothy stopped knitting and playing cards and became paranoid and withdrawn. "She started telling people that somebody was taking money from her and that she was not going to stand for that," says Wilson. "She would accuse people of harming her, which wasn't true. And then she would pack her suitcase and say, 'I'm leaving. They're coming to get me and taking me home.'"

Wilson's mother had told her children that she never wanted to live in a facility or nursing home, so Wilson promised her that she would always remain in her home. She hired a live-in caregiver. "We were fortunate that we could afford professional help," Wilson says. "I'm in awe of family members who can take it on. It's important to share the responsibility. Usually in families one person shoulders the burden— maybe that person is the closest—but I would encourage all siblings to care for parents and to split the burden. Because it's too much if you don't have help to relieve you. It's exhausting. And depressing." Rita Wilson with her mother. Courtesy Rita Wilson

Activism and Heritability After her mother's death in 2014, Wilson became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Association, contributing her star power and money to an awareness campaign. A 2017 ad featured her wearing a blanket crocheted by her mother. "My mother made me this crocheted blanket," the caption next to her photo reads. "She could replicate a pattern just by looking at a design. Alzheimer's took that away. But Mom is here in these stitches."

Since she became involved with the Alzheimer's Association, Wilson has thought more about her own risk of developing the disease, which is higher given her mom's history. "It's important to keep informed not only for your loved ones who are suffering but for yourself, particularly if you're a caregiver, which so many sons and daughters are," she says.

"It's very scary," Wilson continues. Instead of focusing on genetics, she tries to maintain a healthy lifestyle: exercising, meditating, and eating a low-fat diet.

Wilson is right about her higher risk. "There are certainly genetic risk factors, hence some degree of heritability," says Arthur W. Toga, PhD, provost professor of neurology, behavioral sciences, and radiology at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and director of the neuroimaging laboratory at USC's Keck School of Medicine. "Age is a risk factor. Cardiovascular and metabolic factors have been associated with increased risk, while exercise has been linked to a decreased risk," he says. "A genetic variant known as apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) also increases the risk of developing the disease. That said, inheriting APOE4 does not mean that a person will deﬁnitely develop Alzheimer's."

Familial Alzheimer's occurs in less than 10 percent of people with the disease and has been linked with three genetic mutations involving chromosomes 1, 14, and 21, says Eliezer Masliah, MD, director of the division of neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging. People with these mutations usually develop the disease much earlier—in their thirties to mid-sixties. People with a relative with familial Alzheimer's have a 50 percent chance of developing the disease.

Remembering Mom in Song Wilson, who has had recurring roles on TV series such as Girls and The Good Wife and is known for her work in movies as both an actress and producer (the megahit My Big Fat Greek Wedding), is also a singer-songwriter. She has four pop albums to her credit: AM/FM, Rita Wilson, Bigger Picture, and Halfway to Home.

Music has provided Wilson with a meaningful way to honor and remember her mother. One of her songs, "Good Man," is about advice she got from her mother when Wilson was in a relationship with a man she didn't love. Her mother said, "That's okay, you'll grow to love him."

"I thought that was a very distinct generational and cultural take on relationships," says Wilson, who has been married to actor Tom Hanks for more than 30 years and has two sons, Chet and Truman, with him. "From my mom's point of view in the old country, a thing like falling in love was a luxury. You were looking for someone who could provide and take care of you—a good man. In some ways her statement says a lot about commitment." Wilson's parents were married for 59 years. Rita Wilson with her husband, actor Tom Hanks. Valerie Macon/Getty Images

Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter!

Email Address

Subscribe Now

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms.

Watching her mother's decline was sad and difﬁcult for Wilson, but they still shared some funny moments. Wilson recalls the last real conversation she had with her mother, whom she visited almost every day.

"Hi, Mom. How are you, Mom?" she asked. Her mother replied in a thick Greek accent, "I'm goooot!"

"That's great," Wilson said. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of course! You're my daughter!"

"That's right," Wilson replied. "Do you know which one?" Her mother couldn't answer.

"It's me, Rita," said Wilson.

Her mother looked confused and stared at her. "You're too good-looking to be Rita!" Wilson bellowed with laughter. "Mom," she said, "I think you've insulted me, but I'm going to take it as a compliment!"

"I think about her every day," Wilson says. "I really miss talking to her. I miss her sense of humor. I miss looking at her face and seeing that love coming back at me."

Web Extra To learn about the future of Alzheimer's research, go to BrainLifeMag.org/AlzResearch. For more about Alzheimer's disease, go to BrainLifeMag.org/Basics-Alzheimer.