After losing loved ones to Alzheimer's disease, these celebrities are championing brain health and research for a cure.
What do Maria Shriver, Seth Rogan, Leeza Gibbons, and Samuel L. Jackson have in common? They all lost loved ones to Alzheimer’s disease, and since then they’ve all decided to use their celebrity platform to make a difference for families going through the same struggle.
For journalist and former First Lady Maria Shriver, Alzheimer’s advocacy is deeply personal. After her father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed in 2003, she used her skills as a storyteller and public official to bring attention to the burden Alzheimer’s places on women as both patients and caregivers.
In 2010, through The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s, she revealed that two‑thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women, and that women comprise 60 percent of unpaid caregivers. That report sparked the creation of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, which merged with the Cleveland Clinic in 2022 to create a research center specifically for women’s brain health and disease prevention.
Shriver also executive‑produced the award‑winning HBO documentary series The Alzheimer’s Project, including the moving segment “Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?”, based on her children’s book. She’s testified before Congress, helped shape the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, and produced the Oscar‑winning Still Alice. Her goal, she says, is to shift the still-common public perception that Alzheimer’s only impacts seniors.
When most people think of Seth Rogen, they picture the irreverent comedian delivering punchlines, but his advocacy for Alzheimer’s has been anything but a joke. After his wife Lauren Miller’s mother was diagnosed with early‑onset Alzheimer’s in her mid‑50s, she declined quickly. Motivated by that experience, Rogen co-founded Hilarity for Charity, a nonprofit that stages comedy events to fund caregiver support and research. Comedians John Mulaney, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tiffany Haddish, and even the Muppets have all appeared on the Hilarity for Charity stage, and Rogan has taken the show on the road to college campuses.
In 2014, Rogan donned a suit and tie to testify before a Senate appropriations committee. With typical humor (“I dream of a day when my charity is no longer necessary and I can go back to being the lazy, self‑involved man‑child I was meant to be.”), he delivered a plea about government inaction and the stigma around Alzheimer’s. He later called out empty seats in the hearing room, saying they symbolized how little priority the issue gets.
Television host Leeza Gibbons transformed her family’s grief into a mission to uplift Alzheimer’s caregivers. After losing both her mother and grandmother to the disease, Gibbons founded the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation in 2002, eventually launching its signature initiative: Leeza’s Care Connection, a national program offering free, tailored support to family caregivers navigating dementia care. Gibbons focuses on the often-invisible work of caregivers, who may sacrifice sleep, social life, and their own health while managing the demands of loved ones with Alzheimer's.
Gibbons invested her Celebrity Apprentice winnings to open a local caregiver support center in her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina in 2016. Now 68, Gibbons calls her advocacy work her “third act,” describing it as “the greatest work I’ve ever done.”
Actor Samuel L. Jackson has also faced Alzheimer’s close to home. His mother, grandfather, multiple aunts, uncles, and cousins have all battled the disease. He once referred to his grandfather as “my best friend growing up.” In 2019, Jackson lent his voice and presence to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s #ShareTheOrange campaign, a short CGI-powered film designed to shatter the myth that dementia is an unavoidable part of aging. In the film, he explains that a brain with Alzheimer’s can weigh up to 140g less than a healthy one—roughly the weight of an orange. Dementia takes a dramatic physical toll, but it is a disease, not destiny. With more investment in research, we can slow or even stop its progression.
More recently, Jackson joined the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Generation Hope” digital campaign alongside fellow celebrity advocates Kimberly Williams‑Paisley and Diedrich Bader. In a spot titled “Enough,” Jackson spoke plainly: “Alzheimer’s disease has taken my grandfather, grandmother, aunts and uncles. Even my mother. Enough is enough.” He framed the campaign around hope and encouraged viewers to support research and caregiver services to make Alzheimer’s disease a thing of the past.
By raising money for research and sharing their stories, these stars are humanizing the experience of Alzheimer’s. The disease can affect any family, and anyone can add their voice to the call for change.
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