Danny Glover, the actor known for the Lethal Weapon films and The Color Purple, told TODAY’s Lester Holt in an exclusive interview that he has been living with Alzheimer’s disease. The interview, taped at Glover’s home with family members present, aired July 1, 2026, three weeks before his 80th birthday.
Glover said the diagnosis came around the time he received the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the January 2022 Governors Awards. Asked whether his family has supported him through it, he answered simply: “Absolutely. They’ve got my back.” His daughter, chef Mandisa Glover, told Holt she began noticing small gaps around that same period — details missing from stories he had always told in full. “I think it’s really important for him to have control of his own narrative, of his own life story,” she said.
Alzheimer’s in America, by the Numbers
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Statistics: Alzheimer’s Association 2026 Facts and Figures and Alzheimer’s Association: Black Americans and Alzheimer’s.
Before the diagnosis, Glover built a career spanning The Color Purple, Silverado, Predator 2, and nearly two decades as Sergeant Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series alongside Mel Gibson. Off-screen, he served as a UN and UNICEF goodwill ambassador and was a longtime civil rights and labor-rights advocate, work recognized with the NAACP President’s Award. He is now working with the Alzheimer’s Association to raise awareness. Related reading on CruxBuzz: Kathy Bates’ health journey and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s own public disclosure.
Danny Glover disclosed his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in a TODAY interview with Lester Holt that aired July 1, 2026, describing family support and his intention to keep telling his own story on his own terms. The Alzheimer’s Association issued a statement thanking him for speaking publicly, and current U.S. data places him among roughly 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older living with the disease.
