Gene Hackman’s longtime publicist Susan Madore has said the Oscar-winning star and his wife Betsy Arakawa went to great lengths to maintain their privacy towards the end of their lives.
The Gutman Associates executive, who worked with Hackman for 27 years, was speaking at a hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico to determine whether photographs and video taken during the investigation into the couple’s deaths should be released to the public.
Santa Fe Judge Matthew Wilson ultimately ruled that redacted police body camera video and other documents will be released, provided images of the couple’s bodies are not viewable.
Rolling Stone reports that during the hearing, Madore explained how Hackman once bought a plot of land next to a garbage dump because he wanted somewhere he could ride his bicycle.
“He wanted the privacy of being able to ride his bike without anyone following him or observing him,” said Madore.
The publicist added that Arakawa had phoned her after the real estate purchase because “she wanted me to be aware if anyone called asking why Mr. Hackman lived at the dump.”
Madore went on to say that CBS requested an interview with Hackman in the months before his death, but the actor turned them down.
The news outlet then indicated that they may go ahead with their coverage anyway. “When I told Gene and Betsy, they were horrified,” Madore said, adding that she asked CBS to stop pursuing the story, which they ultimately did.
The publicist was speaking in support of Hackman’s three adult children, Christopher Hackman, Elizabeth Hackman, and Leslie Allen, along with Arakawa’s mother Yoshie Feaster, who were arguing that video shot by police officers inside the couple’s home should not be released.
In court documents obtained by People, Feaster said: “I humbly come before this court to request that this court respect my right to grieve in peace and find that I have a constitutional right to avoid seeing images of my daughter’s home, her dead body, her husband’s dead body, and their dog’s corpse.”
She added: “The public spectacle surrounding my daughter’s death is one that no parent should have to live through.”
Hackman and Arakawa were found dead at their home at the end of February.
On March 7, Dr. Heather Jarrell, Chief Medical Examiner at New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator, revealed at a press conference that the couple had died from natural causes.
She announced Arakawa’s cause of death was hantavirus — a rare illness contracted via contact with rodents like rats and mice.
Meanwhile, Hackman’s death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease contributing. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death,” Jarrell said.
