He’s in good spirits.
Alan Alda shared an important update on his health after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015.
In an interview with People published on Wednesday, May 21, the beloved M*A*S*H actor, 89, joked that “he’s making progress,” before quickly adding, “I didn’t say in which direction.”
“Almost every day I’m finding a new way to do something,” Alda explained. “It’s a little like a game. I’ve found whatever the little problem is, if I keep at it, I can eventually solve it, and then I feel like a million bucks. It’s a way to have a good time under poor circumstances.”
According to the six-time Emmy Award winner, his Parkinson’s 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.”
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Of course, Alda isn’t fighting this battle alone. The producer has the unwavering support of his wife, Arlene.
“She always says, ‘The secret to marriage is a short memory,’” Alda jests. “We both try to practice being there when we’re there: listening, answering, taking an interest. You can get used to somebody no matter who it is. I’ve always thought if the Pope and Mother Teresa were a couple, after a few years, they’d have to work it out.”
Alda and Arlene, 92, who have been married for 68 years, met in New York City in 1956.
“[I knew she was the one] when we ate the cake off the floor,” Alda recalls. “There’s something about flirting over food, and that she laughed at my jokes meant a lot. We still laugh at each other’s jokes a lot, and she’s getting funnier every day.”
Arlene is also a top-notch caretaker when she needs to be. “I don’t have dexterity with my fingers the way I used to, so sometimes she has to tear a package open for me,” Alda noted. “She’s so good-natured about it. I’m always saying, ‘Thank you.’”
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