Who Was Gene Hackman’s Wife, Betsy Arakawa? All About the Classical Pianist

The investigation into the surprising deaths of two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, is ongoing after the two were found dead alongside their dog inside their Santa Fe, New Mexico home on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into the deaths on Thursday, Feb. 27, saying that “foul play is not suspected as a factor” in their death. However, a search warrant obtained by TMZ called the deaths “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation” to discover what happened to the legendary actor and his wife of more than three decades.

Hackman, 95, is best known for films including The French Connection and Superman, but what about his bride, 63-year-old Arakawa? The musician, who was born in Hawaii, had a decades-long career as a classical pianist before meeting her husband in the mid-’80s at the California gym where she worked part-time, according to The New York Times. The two tied the knot in 1991.

Hackman was married to first wife Faye Maltese, with whom he shared children Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie Anne, from 1956 to 1986. The Royal Tenenbaums actor denied that Arakawa played any part in the end of his marriage to Maltese, telling the South Florida Sun-Sentinal in 2021, “By the way, I did not leave my real life wife for a younger woman. We just drifted apart. …We lost sight of each other. When you work in this business, marriage takes a great deal of work and love.”

Arakawa was a proud stepmother to Hackman’s three children, and the couple moved to New Mexico, where The Birdcage actor had had a home since the ’80s, following his retirement from acting in 2004.

In her later years, Arakawa co-owned a Santa Fe-based home furnishing business and Hackman told Empire in 2020 that they enjoyed “watching “DVDs that my wife rents” together, adding, “We like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce.”

The couple kept to themselves mostly and were last seen at a public event for the 2003 Golden Globes. Their last public appearance was on March 28, 2024, when they were photographed grabbing lunch at Pappadeaux’s Seafood Kitchen in New Mexico. Hackman could be seen using a cane to walk at the time.