(Picture: Getty Images)
James Bond actor George Lazenby’s ex-wife has opened up about caring for the 85-year-old, who has been diagnosed with dementia.
The retired Australian actor is best known for his time playing 007 after he took over the role from Sean Connery. He played the suave MI6 agent in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
For The Telegraph, his former partner Pam Shriver, 63, whom he met 25 years ago and shares three children with – Kait, Sam and George – has spoken about his life now after confirming he is in the ‘early stages of dementia.’
Former US tennis player Shriver – who met Lazenby at Wimbledon in 2000, aged 37 – divorced him in 2008 but has remained close with him ever since.
‘He has dementia, but he is still very much himself. A softer version of himself, perhaps – and this is the key,’ she told the publication.
In 2023, Lazenby was moved to sheltered housing in Pacific Palisades, but the care home was burned down in the fires which ripped through Los Angeles earlier this year.
He has since relocated to Santa Monica in an ‘assisted living set up’.
‘We go for walks together, chatting about the kids and all the little anxieties which anyone with an older relative will recognise. His dementia affects his short-term memory but he tells stories about his younger days,’ she recalled.
She shared that the pair has previously agreed she would have ‘power of attorney’ if he ever ‘lost capacity’.
Then added that nowadays he is regularly asking if he’ll ever ‘have a car again’.
‘He has loved cars ever since he first drove his uncle’s vintage Plymouth down the country road in Goulburn as a small boy.
‘I always equivocate and say: “Maybe, you never know, but I don’t think so.” And then he’ll look at me with a spark of his old wilfulness. And he’ll say: “I can still drive better than anybody.”.
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