Gene Hackman believed his wife Betsy Arakawa was the reason he lived as long as he did, according to one of the actor’s longtime friends.
“She was very protective of him,” Tom Allin recently told The New York Times of Arakawa, who was seemingly the Oscar-winner’s sole caretaker prior to his shocking death.
Maintenance workers discovered Hackman and his wife’s bodies at the couple’s Santa Fe, New Mexico home on February 26 after they were unable to get in touch with the couple.
Allin, who was shared a 20-year-long-friendship with Hackman, recalled Hackman once telling him that he would have died “long ago” without Arakawa taking care of making sure he maintained a healthy diet.
“She just really looked after him,” he said of the concert pianist, remembering how at Hackman’s 90th birthday part in January 2020, shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic, he saw Arakawa mixing soda water into the actor’s wine.
He also mentioned that he could tell Hackman’s health was in decline. The couple had a yearly tradition in which Hackman would cook dinner for Arakawa’s birthday. In 2023, she returned home anticipating a meal, but Hackman had forgotten their usual custom.
In a press conference held Friday, officials revealed Hackman, 95, died from heart disease with advanced Alzheimers disease being a contributing factor. The “French Connection” star “was in very poor health” before his death, New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell said.
The actor “had not eaten recently” before passing away as there was “no food in his stomach,” Jarrell added, though she noted that his body showed no “evidence of dehydration.”
Based on data recorded from his pacemaker, Hackman likely died on February 18, roughly a week after his wife’s death from Hantavirus, a flu-like illness spread mainly by rodent feces that attacks the lungs. According to the CDC, Hantavirus is not spread from person to person.
The Sheriff acknowledged that Hackman was likely home with his wife for a week before he passed away.
Citing Hackman’s Alzheimers, Jarrell noted, “It is quite possible he was not aware that she was deceased.”
Asked on Friday whether Hackman had any caregiver other than Arakawa, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said, “At this point, there’s no indication that there was a caretaker at the home.”
Arakawa, 65, was last seen alive on February 11, when security cameras spotted her going to a Sprouts Farmers Market, CVS pharmacy and a dog food store. She reportedly wore a face mask, which she often did to avoid bringing any illnesses home to her husband.
Leslie Anne Allen, Hackman’s daughter whom he shared with his late ex-wife Faye Maltese, has said of her father’s marriage to Arakawa, “They had a wonderful marriage. And I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive.”
“[Betsy] took very, very good care of him and was always looking out for his health,” Leslie Anne, 58, said. “So I am appreciative to her for that, and I’m very saddened by her passing.”
Hackman and Arakawa’s close friends Barbara Lenihan, 75, of Santa Fe and her husband, author Daniel Lenihan, 79 recently told The Post that the couple had increasingly “become insular” in recent years.
“They were a little insular and that was fine, it just got tougher for them to have people over,” Barbara said.
Barbara also told People that his health was “really slipping” in the “last couple of months.”
The couple’s son Aaron added, “Betsy tried to keep him kind of active and engaged.”
“She was still trying to keep him as active and engaged and healthy as possible.”
