Actor Owen Wilson revealed that his father had been battling Alzheimer's disease. The 46-year-old actor spoke publically about his father's illness for the first time to the Dallas Morning News where he admitted the disease was tough on the whole Wilson family.
"It's a rough thing," the actor told the Dallas Morning News. "It's one of those things where if somebody had said 10 years ago, when my dad and I were joking around, having a putting match, that this is the position your dad's going to be in, where he basically needs 24-hour care, you'd think, 'Gosh, I won't be able to handle that. That's just not possible,'" the actor said.
Wilson's father was a longtime Dallas executive, reported the Associated Press. He took charge of Dallas' public television affiliate, KERA, in 1967. He hired Jim Lehrer from the Dallas Times Herald and put him in charge of public affairs programming. That led to the creation of a local news program with Lehrer as host that became the forerunner of a national staple, "The News Hour With Jim Lehrer."
"But it does happen. Such things just happen in life," the actor said. "You just have to do your best to deal with it. You've got no choice but to accept it. And then, you sort of still look for the things to be grateful for. He is at home, taken care of, and he has people around that love him."
The actor revealed his father was still the one person he and his brothers Luke, 43 and Andrew, 51, turn to for advice, reported People magazine. "For me and my brothers, there just wasn't a bigger influence on us," Wilson finished.
