Exclusive | Gene Hackman and wife Betsy had a true love affair before shocking deaths, family friend says
Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa’s love story was one for the big screen.“They had a true love affair…Capital L love,” film producer Matthew Gross exclusively told the Post on Thursday.“They were very happy together, and we are all incredibly, incredibly shocked by this.”Gross is the son of Hackman’s longtime business manager and next-door neighbor, the late Edgar Gross.“She was an incredible pianist, and he loved that,” he continued.
“He was an artist, too, and they had a deep connection.”Hackman married Arakawa in 1991 after ending his 30-year marriage with his first wife, the mother of his children, Faye Maltese, in 1986.The couple were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on Wednesday.Gross, the Senior Vice President of Authentic Studios in Beverly Hills, also addressed Hackman’s close friendship with his father, who passed away at age 85 in 2016.
Edgar was considered one of the entertainment industry’s first business managers.He worked with Hollywood’s elite, including Richard Gere, Angelica Huston, Hackman, and more.“They were incredibly, incredibly close and obviously my father and mother also knew Betsy very well,” Gross said of the actor and Edgar, noting that his dad inspired Hackman’s look in the 1995 mobster comedy “Get Shorty.”Hackman and his wife’s bodies were discovered inside their home.
One of their German shepherd dogs was also found deceased, but two other dogs were alive.The actor, who won two Oscars over his decades-long career, was 95.Arakawa was 65.Hackman’s daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, and his granddaughter, Annie, confirmed their deaths to The Post on Thursday.“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy,” they shared.“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa,” the statement continued.
“We will miss him sorely and are...