The former US first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, her family announced on Tuesday.
Carter, 95, lives in Plains, Georgia, with her husband, Jimmy Carter, the 98-year-old 39th president who has been in hospice care since February.
A statement issued on Tuesday by the Carter Center said Rosalynn Carter “continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones”.
The Carters married in 1946, shortly after Jimmy Carter graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was elected governor of Georgia in 1971 and US president five years later, defeating the Republican incumbent, Gerald Ford.
Rosalynn Carter was an influential first lady, known to some as “the Steel Magnolia”. In August 1980, reporting the re-election campaign against Ronald Reagan, Anthony Holden of the Observer wrote: “She revels in her reputation as America’s most political First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, even as, in Time magazine’s judgment, the second most powerful person in the United States.”
The Carter Center was founded in 1982, two years after Jimmy Carter’s defeat by Reagan, to advance the former first couple’s work on human rights, democracy, healthcare, housing and other causes around the world.
In its statement on Tuesday, the Carter family said Rosalynn Carter had been “the nation’s leading mental health advocate for much of her life.
“First in the Georgia governor’s mansion, then in the White House, and later at the Carter Center, she urged improved access to care and decreased stigma about issues surrounding mental health.”
Noting that “one in 10 older Americans have dementia, a condition that affects overall mental health”, the family said Rosalynn Carter recognised “more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support.
“We hope sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.”
The statement also said Rosalynn Carter had “often noted that there are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.
“The universality of caregiving is clear in our family, and we are experiencing the joy and the challenges of this journey. We do not expect to comment further and ask for understanding for our family and for everyone across the country serving in a caregiver role.”
