ROBERT REDFORD
HOW THE HOLLYWOOD LEGEND IS COPING WITH LOSS AFTER HIS SON’S BRAVE TWO-YEAR BATTLE WITH CANCER
The death of his only surviving son, documentary filmmaker James Redford, has shattered the actor’s family.
Blessed with oceanblue eyes, golden hair and a dazzling smile, Robert Redford’s success in American film classics like The Way We Were, The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid seemed almost effortless. Yet underneath his handsome, carefree image lies a man who has endured many private misfortunes. The Oct. 16 death of his son, James Redford, 58, is only the latest. “People think it’s been so easy for me. That’s so untrue,” Robert, 84, says. “The hardest thing in the world is when your children have problems.”
A documentary filmmaker and family man, James, who was known as “Jamie,” was Robert’s third child with his ex-wife Lola Van Wagenen. He died after a twoyear battle with bile-duct cancer in his liver and leaves behind Kyle, his wife of 32 years, and two children, Dylan and Lena. “The grief is immeasurable with the loss of a child,” Robert’s rep, Cindi Berger, tells Closer in a statement. “Robert is in mourning with his family.”
While those closest to Jamie had been prepared for his passing, it hasn’t made this tragic loss any easier to bear. “Jamie and Robert had a special bond because he was the child who followed most closely in his father’s footsteps,” explains a family friend. “This is very hard on Robert. His heart is broken into a million pieces. He also feels for Jamie’s children.”
A CLOSE CONNECTION
Robert is also devoted to his daughters, Shauna, 59, and Amy, 49, but his relationship with Jamie, his only surviving son, has always been extra special. “They had a lot in common and spoke often,” says the friend. “They had some very difficult conversations in the end to say goodbye without saying the words.”
Three years before Jamie’s birth in 1962, Robert and Lola lost another son, Scott, their firstborn, to sudden infant death syndrome at just 10 weeks old. “As a parent, you blame yourself,” Robert has said about losing a child to SIDS, a disorder that did not even have a name at the time. “That creates a scar that never completely heals.”
It’s little wonder that Jamie’s difficult birth three years later made Robert feel helpless and terrified. Born prematurely, infant Jamie suffered from hyaline membrane disease, the same malady that killed John and Jacqueline Kennedy’s son Patrick. Doctors gave Jamie only a 40 percent chance of survival, but he pulled through.
Sadly, Jamie’s health issues didn’t end there. As an adult, he suffered from primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare disease affecting the liver. At 30, he underwent two life-threatening liver transplants. “You want to reach down and make it all right and pick him up out of the crib as you could do when he was little,” Robert admitted about watching his son suffer.
Jamie’s body rejected the first liver due to a blood clot, and he underwent surgery for a new liver a second time. “[My dad] said if he and I could trade places, he
“I feel like I wear death and sadness like an albatross around my neck.”
would,” said Jamie. “[He] was 100 percent involved [and] consulted on every aspect of the surgeries.” Upon his recovery, Jamie founded the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, a nonprofit to provide information about tissue and organ transplants.
A LEGACY OF LOVE
That Jamie would grow up to become a documentary filmmaker and a passionate environmentalist like his father was a great point of pride for Robert. “I come from a long line of storytellers, so the idea of being compelled to make sense of things is essential to who I am and how I see the world,” Jamie said. The first documentary he directed, 2012’s The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia, was inspired by his son Dylan’s struggles with the learning disorder. Jamie’s other award-winning documentaries include Watershed, Toxic Hot Seat and Mann v.
Ford. “He was passionate about the state of the world,” says the friend, “but hopeful about the future.”
When he was younger, Jamie felt “pressure to get out from under Robert’s legacy,” notes the pal, but finding his own voice changed those feelings. “Jamie learned to embrace his connection to his dad. It only made him stronger and more committed,” says the friend, who adds that Jamie often spoke with his father about his projects and wasn’t shy about asking for advice. “Robert was always interested in his work.”
In 2005, Robert and Jamie founded The Redford Center, to create films and media to promote the environment and find solutions to universal problems like global warming and pollution. “The greatest lesson Jamie learned from his father was to work on things that you are passionate about and not compromise your integrity,” says the pal. The younger Redford had been working on a documentary called Where the Past Begins, which traced the immigrant journey of
The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan, at the time of his death.
For Robert, losing Jamie is a terrible cross to bear. “Robert’s a strong person, but he’s human,” says the friend. “Jamie had a wife, children and a full life still ahead of him.”
“[My] children are the best thing in my life.” — Robert