Hollywood legend Nick Nolte’s always been an oddball, but lately he’s been extra forgetful and seemingly out of sorts, leaving worried pals pushing him to get a check for brain-savaging Alzheimer’s, insiders say.
Sadly, the 81-year-old Down and Out in Beverly Hills star is no stranger to the Alzheimer’s nightmare — his beloved grandmother and a father-in-law were victims.
“His loved ones are worried, and he’s worried too because his memory is waning and isn’t as sharp as it used to be and he gets frustrated when he can’t remember things,” spills an insider.
“His grandmother had Alzheimer’s and it broke his heart to see her get confused and not be able to recognize him.”
Insiders say those close to the Angel Has Fallen star fear he may even have early stages of the disease due to his bizarre behavior. Says the source, “He walks around in a daze and misplaces things and can’t remember names.”
“Some days, even simple things like getting dressed or making breakfast are a struggle. People tell him to see a doctor, and he says he will — but he doesn’t.”
“It’s like he’s scared to.”
He’s also gotten sloppy “and goes days without washing his hair,” says the insider. “The average person would mistake him for a homeless man because he’s frequently unkempt and rumpled.”
Ironically, Nolte played a widower forced to come to terms with the onset of Alzheimer’s in the 2018 flick Head Full of Honey, co-starring his then 11-year-old daughter Sophia as his granddaughter.
Nolte hooked up with Sophia’s mom, Clytie Lane, 44, in 2003 and she became his fourth wife in 2016.
The actor previously described the horrors his granny suffered, saying: “They just can’t remember, and it’s frustrating. They get angry and crabby about it.”
“They don’t want to engage because they know they’re going to get stuck and how do you get out of that stuck place? Well, you just shift subjects and shift it quickly and completely.”
“That’s what I learned with my grandmother.”
Her condition got so bad, “the family had decided that we could not take care of grandma. They were worried that she’d wander off.”
“My parents moved her into the nursing home and then she refused ever to talk to us again.”
“She was just bitter and she died within seven days.”
Meanwhile, the Prince of Tides star has two upcoming flicks, crime thriller Blackout and drama Rittenhouse Square and continues pushing for more work.
“He wants to keep working until he drops, but everyone around him is concerned he’s pushing himself too hard and needs to address his health,” says the insider.
