Shirley MacLaine ‘puts a brave face on secret disabilities and memory loss’
Shirley MacLaine is quietly battling secret disability problems and bouts of memory loss, insiders say RadarOnline.com – even if the Steel Magnolias the legend puts on a brave public face with crazy outfits and crazy behavior as she approaches her 92nd birthday.
The Oscar-winning actress, who turned 91 in April, was recently spotted shivering along the Malibu sidewalk on her way to lunch at celebrity favorite Lucky’s Steakhouse.
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Weakness on the sidewalk
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Shirley MacLaine walked shakily to lunch at Lucky’s Steakhouse in Malibu.
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It was a change from her usual haunt, Kristy’s Malibu Café near Zuma Beach, where she is often joined by her team.
Wearing a bizarre outfit consisting of a blood-red jacket over a sea-green Palm Springs crew neck, sage cargo pants and dusty red slip-ons, she grabbed a male friend’s arm for balance as they walked.
Later, the couple stopped at Pavilion’s grocery store for bouquets and supplies.
The sighting followed an earlier sighting in March, days before MacLaine’s 91st birthday, when she appeared weak and had reddish spots on her face while drinking wine with an attendant.
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Masking health problems
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Sources said Shirley MacLaine suffered from weakness and memory loss after a bad fall.
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According to a longtime family source, MacLaine is “putting on a brave face after a bad fall earlier this year,” which they said left her with persistent weakness and occasional disorientation.
The insider added: “She is determined to keep moving, to stay seen. But she gets tired quickly and her memory is not what it used to be.
“She won’t admit it publicly, but she’s having a hard time.”
Another source familiar with the actress’s daily routine added: “The bright, mismatched clothes, the extended conversations – people around her think it’s a sign she’s getting a little merciful. She laughs it off, but she uses it to try to appear cheerful and deflect attention from serious health issues – and it masks a lot.”
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New Age confidence amid amnesia
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Shirley MacLaine leaned on a friend for balance during her recent outing in Malibu.
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MacLaine, who remains open about her lifelong commitment to New Age spirituality, has continued to discuss past lives with characteristic confidence, recently telling Jennifer Aniston that she had once been her mother.
Aniston, 56, recalled the moment during The Drew Barrymore Showsaying, “She believes we were mother and daughter in a past life and I think that’s why we had such an instant connection. She was just fantastic.”
Aniston added that they even attended a “past life regression retreat” together in New Mexico.
MacLaine’s mystical outlook has long stood in stark contrast to her strained relationship with her daughter, Sachi Parker, 67.
In her memoirs Lucky meParker claimed she endured a childhood marked by distance and emotional neglect – claiming MacLaine was dismissed as “pretty much all fiction.”
But friends say the actor’s current vulnerability has softened some of her sides.
A source said: “She doesn’t talk about Sachi much now. She talks more about the past, about old performances, about being on stage. But she sometimes mixes things up. Dates and places get mangled – and she gets frustrated.”
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Shirley MacLaine has put her 7,500-acre ranch in New Mexico up for sale for $17.4 million.
As she approaches her 92nd birthday, MacLaine has begun throwing away large parts of her life, including putting her massive 7,500-acre ranch near Abiquiú, New Mexico, on the market for $17.4 million.
But other responsibilities are more difficult to shift. Last year’s indie film People, not placesin which she stars opposite Stephen Dorff, became embroiled in a scandal after a row arose over non-payment of crew wages.
“This whole thing is really a disaster,” said a member of the film crew Variety in 2024, after the total amount owed reportedly rose to $672,749.
MacLaine’s health problems are not new. As a child she had weak ankles and at the age of three she took up ballet. In 1990, she dislocated her kneecap during a performance in Seattle, finished the show before seeking medical attention and later recovered through physical therapy.
