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Diane Ladd’s death came three months after the passing of husband Robert Charles Hunter. Hunter’s family announced to The Hollywood Reporter in August that the former CEO of PepsiCo Food Systems died in Fort Worth, Texas, while visiting his children. He was 77 and survived by Ladd, stepdaughter Laura Dern and his children, Brandon, Amy and Emily. While honoring Hunter’s life, his family noted that he wrote the 2008 novel Curious Journey: Origins and 2011’s Curious Journey: Energy, which “tapped into his intellect and curiosity about the world.” “Robert always loved Texas,” the statement read. “The wide skies, the bold spirit and the warmth of Fort Worth were part of his soul. Returning home brought him peace and joy — a feeling he often described as ‘like coming back to the rhythm of my heart.’” Hunter tied the knot with Ladd in 1999. The couple cofounded Ojai-based Exxcell Entertainment in 1999 and collaborated in 2006’s Inland Empire, which also featured Dern. Three months after Hunter’s death, Ladd’s daughter and actress Dern shared the news of her passing. She was 89. “My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, California,” Dern, 58, wrote in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, November 3. The tribute continued, “She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created. We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.” A cause of death was not immediately shared. Ladd shared Laura with Bruce Dern, whom she was married to from 1960 to 1969. The exes also shared daughter Diane, who died at 18 months after a drowning accident in 1962. The Oscar-nominated actress went on to marry William A. Shea Jr. in 1969 before splitting in 1976. Ladd’s death came years after Laura revealed that her mother had been given six months to live in 2019 following a health scare with her lungs. “She was exposed to pesticides being sprayed in the neighborhood and was not notified and realized that she had scarring on her lungs,” Laura explained during an appearance on Today in April 2023. “And they said, ‘If you can get her walking, expand her lung capacity, maybe it will help.’” The mother-daughter duo would take walks to aid Ladd’s recovery. Laura went on to record the conversations shared during those walks so that her kids could hear their chats. (Laura shares children Ellery, 24, and Jaya, 20, with ex-husband Ben Harper. The twosome were married from 2005 before calling it quits in 2013.) “I was shocked at how little I’d asked her,” Laura said. “The hard stuff, because I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t want to bring it up and hurt her.’ But even the simple stuff. I’ve been raised by an actor, I’ve worked alongside my mother, and yet I’d never asked, ‘Why did you want to become an actress? … What was the first movie that ever inspired you? What’s your favorite color?’” The pair ultimately teamed up to write their book, Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding), after Ladd recovered.
