'Mom is gone': Jann Arden's mother, who struggled with Alzheimer's disease, has died
Singer-songwriter's fans and supporters responded with an outpouring of condolences
Jann Arden says her mother, a longtime sufferer of Alzheimer's disease, has died.
The Calgary-born singer-songwriter took to social media early Sunday to confirm Joan Richards' passing in a short post.
"Mom is gone," she wrote on Instagram in a message accompanied by a photo of her mother.
Her fans and supporters responded with an outpouring of condolences.
Arden has been a tireless advocate for erasing the stigma of dementia. She's spoken openly about her experiences with the disease, which also affected her late father.
Richards began showing signs of Alzheimer's over a decade ago in her early 70s, Arden has said. Initially, the singer dismissed it as typical signs of her mother aging.
Mom is gone.
—@jannardenAfter her mother's diagnosis, Arden began using social media to correspond with other people whose relatives were stricken by the disease.
The Could I Be Your Girl singer highlights some of her happier experiences in Feeding My Mother, a 2017 book about sharing time in the kitchen and cooking food with Richards.
Arden will play a "fictionalized version of herself" in the 2019 CTV series Jann, which follows a newly single singer-songwriter looking to revive her career while grappling with her mother's early stages of dementia.
