‘MUM WOULD HATE THIS’
JEANNE LITTLE’S DAUGHTER ON HER MOTHER’S SAD LIFE IN A SYDNEY NURSING HOME
She was a beloved and outrageous entertainer who would light up a room with her famous catchphrase, “Hello, daaarling”. But that was a very different Jeanne Little.
For the past eight years, the Gold Logie winner, now 80, has been confined to a Sydney nursing home, trapped in her own lonely world as she battles Alzheimer’s.
Now her only daughter, Katie Little, is pushing for legislation which would see euthanasia legalised throughout Australia.
“To see a loved one suffering, it’s hideous,” Katie, 44, tells New Idea. “I wish the politicians would just get on with the euthanasia debate.”
Currently, euthanasia is illegal in Australia, although individual states can legislate on the issue.
As her Jeanne’s health continues to deteriorate, Katie sees euthanasia as a way of putting an end to her mother’s suffering. “I know Mum would not want to live like this,” she says.
Jeanne was diagnosed with a rapid-onset form of Alzheimer’s disease in 2009. The sad reality is that she now can’t do anything for herself.
“She can’t talk,” Katie says. “She is completely dependent on being fed and bathed. I think my mum would hate this so much. But she’s not the same Mum.”
Katie remembers being devastated when her mother stopped recognising her. “It was like I’d been erased,” she says.
Now, she has written her first book, Catch A Falling Star, as a way of remembering what life with Jeanne was like prior to her Alzheimer’s diagnosis. “Everywhere we would go we would be mobbed by people who loved Mum,” Katie recalls. Jeanne rose to fame in the 1970s as a guest on The Mike Walsh Show, where the flamboyant fashion designer would show off her latest “crazy” creations. Famously, Jeanne once wore a gown made from garbage bags.
“She was always looking for ways to recreate the fashions of the Paris catwalks but on a shoestring,” Katie says. “And the garbage bags absolutely took off.”
Elsewhere in the book, Katie recalls attending an after-party for The Rocky Horror Show as a teenager. Dressed in lingerie, Katie and her friends gathered autographs from the actors. One of them baulked at the girls’ clothing – or lack of. “What is this, kindergarten?” the actor asked.
Who was it? A thenunknown Russell Crowe. Katie’s response was priceless: “We don’t need his autograph, he’s not famous!”
“SHE WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO RECREATE THE FASHIONS OF PARIS … ON A SHOESTRING”