- - Diane Ladd Died Just 3 Months After Losing Her Husband of 26 Years, Former PepsiCo CEO Robert Charles Hunter

Tommy McArdleNovember 3, 2025 at 10:24 PM

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Diane Ladd and Robert Charles Hunter in 2015 -

Actress Diane Ladd died at 89 on Monday, Nov. 3, just over three months after her husband Robert Charles Hunter died at 77

Ladd and Hunter, the former CEO of PepsiCo, married in 1999

Ladd's daughter Laura Dern, whom she shared with ex-husband Bruce Dern, announced her mother's death on Nov. 3

News of Diane Ladd's death at 89 comes just three months after she and her family lost her husband Robert Charles Hunter, who died on Aug. 1 at 77.

Ladd's daughter Laura Dern announced that her mother "passed away with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Calif.," in a statement on Monday, Nov. 3. "She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created," Dern, 58, whom Ladd shared with her ex-husband Bruce Dern, added. "We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now."

Ladd's husband Hunter, former CEO of PepsiCo Food Systems, died in Fort Worth, Texas while visiting his children, as The Hollywood Reporter reported in August.

Hunter and Ladd co-founded their production company Excel Entertainment in 1999, the same year they married. He made his one and only big screen appearance as a detective in David Lynch's 2006 movie Inland Empire, which Dern and Ladd both starred in.

While Ladd never released a formal statement regarding Hunter's death, she did share a screengrab of THR's reporting of his passing to Instagram on Aug. 3.

Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Diane Ladd and Robert Hunter in 2008

Ladd's marriage to Hunter was her third and her longest; she was first married to Laura's father Bruce, now 89, from 1960 to 1969. Following Ladd's split from Bruce, she was married to William A. Shea, Jr. from 1969 to 1976.

Dern and her mother’s relationship extended beyond familial; the two actresses costarred on the big screen in 1990’s Wild at Heart, 1991’s Rambling Rose, 1996’s Citizen Ruth and 2006’s Inland Empire, plus the HBO series Enlightened from 2011 to 2013.

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Ladd amassed many movie and TV credits after launching her screen career in the 1970s. Nominated for three Oscars and three Emmys, she was known for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (and the TV sitcom Alice, based on that 1974 film) and multiple collaborations with the late director David Lynch.

Ladd and her daughter's kids Ellery Walker and Jaya Harper were at Dern's side at the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony when she won the Supporting Actress Oscar for Marriage Story. “Some say ‘never meet your heroes’ but I say if you’re really blessed, you get them as your parents,” said the Jurassic Park star in her acceptance speech. “I share this with my acting heroes, my legends, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern.”

Fred Hayes/WireImage

Robert Hunter and Diane Ladd in 2006

Dern also shared back in 2018 that Ladd was hesitant about her daughter following in her parents’ career footsteps. "I think the quote of my mother's was, 'Be a lawyer, be a doctor, be a leper missionary, but don't be an actress!'" she said.

In 2023, Ladd and her daughter teamed up for a book, Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) full of their intimate conversations. It was soon after Ladd had been diagnosed with a lung disease, called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, that the mother-daughter duo began taking long walks together, they told PEOPLE.

At the time of Ladd's death, the actress had one film still in post-production: Blue Champagne, from writer-director Blaine Novak. The movie, which does not yet have a release date, also stars Jack Nicholson's daughter Jennifer Nicholson.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”