Diane Ladd’s Cause of Death Revealed Two Weeks After Her Passing at 89

Actress Diane Ladd died November 3 as result of acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure, according to authorities.

Bruce Dern shared kind words about his late ex-wife Diane Ladd upon news of her death at 89 Monday at her Ojai, California home.

‘She lived a good life,’ the two-time Oscar nominee, 89, told Us Weekly in a statement Monday. ‘She saw everything the way it was.’

Bruce called Diane – who he was wed to from 1960 to 1969 – ‘funny, clever, gracious’ and ‘a great teammate to her fellow actors.’

The Nebraska actor added, ‘But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter.

‘And for that I will be forever grateful to her.’

Bruce said Diane was ‘a decades-long board member of SAG’ who provided ‘a real actress’ point of view.’

Bruce Dern shared kind words about his late ex-wife Diane Ladd upon news of her death at 89 Monday at her Ojai, California home. Pictured with daughter Laura Dern in 2010 in LA 

Bruce, who has worked with Quentin Tarantino on films such as 2015’s The Hateful Eight and 2019’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, said he felt Diane’s star shined brightest working with late auteur David Lynch.

‘Diane was a tremendous actress and I feel like, a bit of a “hidden treasure” until she ran into David Lynch,’ Bruce said. 

The Great Gatsby star cited Diane’s performance as Marietta Fortune in the 1990 Lynch film Wild at Heart opposite her daughter Laura Dern – as well as Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe – as a breakout performance.

‘When he cast her as Laura’s mom in Wild at Heart it felt like the world then really understood her brilliance,’ Bruce said.

During their marriage, they tragically lost a one-year-old daughter named Diane in 1962 following a drowning accident.

Diane, in her joint 2023 book with daughter Laura titled Honey, Baby, Mine, candidly discussed how the tragedy impacted her marriage.

‘If you lose a child, it’s very hard to cope,’ Ladd said. ‘We were struggling actors. We could hardly make it.

‘We had to stay in the same house where she died because we couldn’t afford to leave. His family could have helped us, but they didn’t.’

Bruce said he felt Diane’s star shined brightest working with late auteur David Lynch 

Bruce said his ex-wife ‘was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter’

Bruce and Diane had appeared in motion pictures together including 2009’s American Cowslip; 1995’s Mrs. Munck; 1970’s The Rebel Rousers; and 1966’s The Wild Angels.

Bruce, Ladd and Laura were the first trio of relatives to be awarded stars at the same time on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 1, 2010.

‘I ask the universe that these three stars right here – when I’m dead and gone or if I’m still alive – that whoever comes and looks at it or stands on it, may the energy of the three of our lives permeate into their foundation and help each and every one fulfill their destiny with joy and love, as I wish for you,’ Ladd said as she accepted the honors, according to People.