Diane Ladd Shares Exactly What She Does To Keep Her Lungs Healthy
Diane Ladd and Laura Dern
In 2018, Hollywood star Diane Ladd was unknowingly exposed to pesticides that were sprayed in her neighborhood. After "one misdiagnosis after another"—as she shared in her and daughter Laura Dern's joint memoir Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding)—Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that causes scarring of the lungs.
While Ladd, 88, has since recovered, and been busy with projects—including her new movie Isle of Hope and working on her Right on Martha screenplay—she maintains her lung health with "alternative modalities." Those include acupressure, taking vitamins, a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water and exercising, in addition to watching good movies, experiencing culture and spending time with close friends.
Ladd explains, "For everything good, there's a price to pay. So you have to be your own doctor at the same time."
Related: Little Women Taught Laura Dern Not to Hide Her Flaws From Her Daughter
The Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore star also has her Oscar-winning daughter to help her stay healthy. "I do everything I can to encourage her and take care of her in any way I can," Dern tells Parade. "But certainly the origin of our journey that then became a book was about trying to get mom walking, which was the only prescription in a death sentence that we received for her."
That being said, Ladd says that it's her job as her mother to continue to help Dern as well. "Until I take my last breath, my daughter will always be my baby," Ladd says. "And I will always fight to find answers for my children. We're supposed to let our children stand on our shoulders so they can see further than we have."
But Ladd knows her daughter has fought for her as well, continuing: "And yes, I was almost dying with a different script. And my daughter's love saved my life. And that's the honest God's truth."
The mother-daughter duo took a walk down memory lane together in a special holiday episode of Ancestry's unFamiliar YouTube series. Below, Dern and Ladd open up to Parade about retracing their steps in the episode and their close mother-daughter bond...
How would you describe your bond?
Dern: I would just say, the mother-daughter bond is an extraordinary one. And I have the privilege to have a son and it's its own amazing bond as is any relationship with your child, but having been raised as an only child by an only child, mostly single parent, that relationship is very, very deep. When we started our journey, which led to us sharing our conversations in a book, which then led to our interest and deep dive thanks to Ancestry in learning more, all of it was an amazing experience. Because at the end of the day, what we learned is despite the relationship, there's always so much more to learn. And there's always so much more to share.
And what shocked me is the things we had avoided, were the deepest and hardest things, which makes sense because we tend to avoid bringing up things that we think could be painful for a loved one, or difficult to talk about, but those [are] the very things you would hope with your own family would be the safest place to process and heal and talk through challenges in one's life. But even as close as mom and I are, much of that had been pushed to the side until we went on this journey together.
Ladd: Most people think they know their children. They don't. Not really. And most people think they know their parents. Not really. Did we ask what's your favorite color? The little things in life trigger a whole other side to a human being.
To talk is a great thing. Communicating is very difficult in life for everybody. Because how many times do you stand in front of the mirror and say, "Oh my gosh, how could I do that? How could I have said that?" So we don't get 90 percent of ourselves all the time. So how do we expect to judge each other so quickly, that we should get 90 percent from anybody else? If we can get 60 percent of truth with love and light from the person we love, we're doing pretty good. So that's a pretty big goal right there.
Courtesy Ancestry
You're both in an episode of Ancestry's YouTube series. Did you learn anything surprising about your family on Ancestry?
Ladd: Yes, but we can't tell you because we can't ruin the surprise.
Dern: [Laughs]
Ladd: But we did find one beautiful little thing. Important, fabulous thing. And it was great. It was great.
Dern: We learned a lot. Things we had no idea about. But as Mom said, in the most delicious surprises, what was unexpected is you're waiting for these dramatic turns, where you're like, "Oh my god, these relatives came from here and then settled there." And all of that is amazing and fascinating, but beyond that, what you can discover are these little callings. These little mystical connections that we have, and don't know. They may involve our genetics—the things we gravitate toward, things we're interested in, passions, vocations. And then you find out that descendants may be connected to why you've always been interested or had a feeling about something and that was shocking to me in such an exciting way.
Ladd: It's so powerful because it's the foundation underneath you, which you have and is leading you and you haven't even realized a mystical connection that's deep within you. And that's true. That's true. And things like this prove it. It proved it.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
