'The Birds' Star Tippi Hedren Battling Dementia and 'Can't Remember' Her Glamorous Career: Report
Tippi Hedren was once a Hollywood starlet, and her legacy within the entertainment industry is maintained through her daughter, Melanie Griffith, and eldest granddaughter, Dakota Johnson, and a new report claimed the former model is not able to reminisce over her time as a leading lady.
Dakota Johnson often gushes over her grandmother Tippi Hedren.
According to Spanish journalist Gustavo Egusquiza the covergirl "is no longer able to be interviewed due to health reasons."
"She has dementia, and is unable to remember her career at all," he explained. "She just turned 94, so unfortunately, time has taken its toll."
The reporter hoped to interview Hedren, but due to her condition, he was unable to.
"This is devastating news for Tippi Hedren's fans worldwide," Egusquiza explained. "Unfortunately, her agent confirmed to me that Tippi is dealing with dementia and is unable to remember her career. It is a difficult situation for her and her family."
Tippi Hedren reportedly has dementia.
Last month, Hedren celebrated her 94th birthday alongside her famous daughter and her grandchildren.
"It may not be exciting to the rest of the world, but as a mother and grandmother, it's the perfect way to celebrate," Hedren told People.
Tippi Hedren was best known for starring in 'The Brids.'
Hedren was best known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, and she claimed that her time working with the director was traumatic. The star worked in Hollywood before the "Me Too" movement, and her experience is often mentioned when activists talk about a filmmaker abusing their position of power.
“She became an example of what to never let happen in my life,” Griffith told The Hollywood Reporter. “Hopefully, I’ve passed that on to Dakota — to be strong in your work and in yourself.”
“I was taught self-respect and grace and strength," Johnson added. "Never before this moment did anyone in my family [explicitly] say, like, ‘Be careful.’ Sometimes, powerful men in Hollywood will try to [do] whatever.”
Tippi Hedren's only child is Melanie Griffith.
In Hedren's memoir, Tippi, the blonde beauty wrote about the infamous clip from The Birds when she was attacked by various flocks.
"It took me several seconds to pick my jaw up off the floor," she penned. They were using live birds for this final apocalyptic scene?! I trusted the expertise of our trainer Ray Berwick 100 percent, but not even the greatest trainer in the world could control every move an animal makes, especially when it’s under stress."
"Resigned and determined, I finished getting ready and walked out on the set to find a cage built around the bedroom door. All around the inside of the cage were huge cartons of ravens, doves, and a few pigeons," she revealed. "I refused to look at Hitchcock as I crossed the set to my mark inside the door and braced myself for whatever was in store for me."
Hedren also accused the creative of assault and harassment in the book.
"I heard Hitchcock yell, 'Action!' and right on cue, the handlers began hurling those live birds at me. It was brutal and ugly and relentless. Cary Grant, one of Hitch’s favorite leading men, happened to be visiting the set that day and told me between takes, 'You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever seen.'" I was never frightened, I was just overwhelmed and in some form of shock, and I just kept saying to myself over and over again, 'I won’t let him break me. I won’t let him break me.'"