Alan Alda is opening up about his struggles with face blindness.
In a brand new interview with Folks, the 89-year-old yr recalled the time he didn’t acknowledge his personal daughter, Beatrice, attributable to prosopagnosia.
Alda mentioned the incident occurred on the set of his 1981 comedy “The Four Seasons” when he had Beatrice, now 63, dye her hair for her function within the movie.
“I saw this person with horn-rimmed glasses and blonde hair staring at me, and it was starting to get distracting,” Alda defined. “I said to the assistant director, ‘Don’t let these strangers come on the set.’ He said, ‘That’s your daughter!’”
“I don’t think she was too happy about that,” Alda added, “because neither of us knew that there was such a thing as face blindness [at the time].”
The “M*A*S*H” actor, who continues to be coping with the situation, mentioned that these days it’s “very hard” for him to acknowledge folks.
“When somebody comes up to me, as if they know me, I often don’t know if they know me from seeing me on the screen or if I actually know them,” he shared.
“I could have dinner with somebody, spend two hours with somebody next to me, and the next day not know who they are,” Alda mentioned.
Alda additionally spoke to the outlet about his Parkinson’s illness, which he was recognized with in 2015.
The Emmy Award winner mentioned that managing the neurological dysfunction has “gone from a part-time job to almost a full-time job keeping track of all these little solutions.”
“But it keeps me always looking for the funny side,” he shared.
Alda additional defined how his longtime spouse Arlene, 92, has supported him throughout his well being struggles.
“I don’t have dexterity with my fingers the way I used to, so sometimes she has to tear a package open for me,” he mentioned. “She’s so good-natured about it. I’m always saying, ‘Thank you.’”
Alda beforehand gave an replace on his Parkinson’s in a 2020 interview with “AARP the Magazine.”
“A lot of people hear they have Parkinson’s and get depressed and panicky and don’t do anything, just hoping it’ll go away. It’s not going to, but you can hold off the worst symptoms. Movement helps: walking, biking, treadmills. But also specific things: I move to music a lot.” he mentioned. “It’s not the end of the world when you get this diagnosis.”
Different celebrities who’ve Parkinson’s embrace Michael J. Fox, Ozzy Osbourne and Linda Ronstadt.
