EXCLUSIVE: Inside Shelley Duvall's Lonely and Troubled Life Before Death at 75 — 'The Shining' Star Kept to Herself and Feared 'Aliens'
Shelley Duvall died at 75 years old in 2024.
July 10 2026, Published 1:31 p.m. ET
Shelley Duvall lived a reclusive life on a 10-acre ranch in Blanco, Texas, for more than two decades before her death at 75.
Ahead of the two-year anniversary of The Shining star's passing on July 11, RadarOnline.com revisits her life, her career and a fear of extraterrestrials that allegedly drove her to extremes.
Inside Shelley Duvall's Troubled Later Years
Shelley Duvall moved to Texas in the early 2000s.
Duvall moved to the rural ranching community in Texas in the early 2000s after stepping away from her acting career, and she largely kept to herself.
Other residents who lived there claimed they'd seen her "wander around town by herself," and said she would "mutter" and talk about "aliens living in her body," according to a resurfaced 2009 interview.
Shelley Duvall allegedly told locals of her fears of 'aliens.'
A source also alleged she took cautionary measures to protect herself and her home from supposed extraterrestrials.
"Shelley keeps her gate locked all the time," the source explained. "She has barbed wire around the fence and said it was to keep the aliens out. She told a friend of mine that she can’t leave the house until the aliens are asleep."
The source called the situation "terribly sad."
Shelley Duvall quit acting for more than 20 years.
According to an insider from the local hardware store in the community, Duvall also allegedly talked of a "portal" on her property.
"One time, she came in and asked for dirt and boards to block up a hole in the backyard because, she said: ‘That’s a portal into another dimension. That’s where the aliens are coming in,’" the insider claimed. "Another time, she said she needed wood because the wood in her bed had metal hidden in it and the aliens were using it to shock her."
During a controversial appearance on the Dr. Phil show in 2016, Duvall admitted she was "very sick," appearing to imply she may have been suffering from a mental illness.
She also talked about former co-star Robin Williams being alive and "shapeshifting" and alien "implants" that she claimed were in her leg.
Shelley Duvall's Haunting Experiences Filming 'The Shining'
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Shelley Duvall claimed she was extremely stressed and 'ill' while filming 'The Shining.'
Prior to her departure from Hollywood, the successful actress was in Roxanne (1987), Popeye (1980), Annie Hall (1977), Women (1977), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), and more, but her "most difficult" and "almost unbearable" role was in The Shining (1980), according to Duvall.
Rumors swirled for years that director Stanley Kubrick allegedly bullied her and treated her differently from others on set. Jack Nicholson even alleged that clumps of her hair had fallen out at one point.
"From May until October I was really in and out of ill health because the stress of the role was so great," Duvall said of the experience shooting the horror film in the book The Complete Kubrick. "Stanley pushed me and prodded me further than I’ve ever been pushed before."
She stepped away from acting entirely in 2002, around the time that she moved to Texas, and took a more than 20-year hiatus from the industry.
However, one year before her death, she returned to the screen. Her final role was as "Mama" in Scott Goldberg's psychological horror flick Forest Hills in 2023.
