In a 60 Minutes Interview, Tony Bennett‘s wife Susan Crow revealed the extent of the singer’s Alzheimer’s disease. Anderson Cooper interviewed the couple right before the singer’s 95th birthday, and Crow, 55, explained that while Bennett still remembers her and his children, he isn’t aware that he has the disease.
“Every day is different,” Crow explained in a one-on-one interview with Cooper. “Tony late at night, sometimes early in the morning, he’s more alert, if I can use that word. So, I’ll tell him, ‘Tone, you’re gonna be on 60 Minutes.’ He’s, like, ‘Great.’” However, his short-term memory is not as consistent. “I said, ‘You remember that show, 60 Min–‘ he’s, like, ‘I do.’ But in any other given moment, he won’t know.”
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“He recognizes me, thank goodness, his children you know, we are blessed in a lotta ways,” Crow explained confirming that he does not remember that he has Alzheimer’s. “He’s very sweet. He doesn’t know he has it.” Crow and Bennett have been married since 2007 and have no children together. The singer shares sons Danny, 67, and Dae, 66, with his first ex-wife Patricia Beech, and daughters Joanna, 51, and Antonia, 47, with his second ex-wife Sandra Grant Bennett.
Bennett performed for the last time with a duo of shows with Lady Gaga at Radio Music Hall In August. Bennett’s son Danny confirmed the rescheduled casino shows this fall will not take place amid health concerns. Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, although he did not announce his diagnosis until February.
“There won’t be any additional concerts,” Danny, who has managed his father’s career for the past four decades, told Variety on Thursday. Danny, 66, called it a “hard decision” for the family since Bennett could still perform. However, the “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” singer’s doctors advised him not to perform the casino shows. When his wife Susan heard what the doctors said, she agreed that Bennett should not perform live again.
“He’ll be doing other things, but not those upcoming shows. It’s not the singing aspect but, rather, the traveling. Look, he gets tired. The decision is being made that doing concerts now is just too much for him. We don’t want him to fall on stage, for instance — something as simple as that,” Danny said. “We’re not worried about him being able to sing. We are worried, from a physical standpoint… about human nature. Tony’s 95.”
