'Alice's Diane Ladd Is Fabulous at 87 with 'Porcelain' Skin after Being Given 6 Months to Live

• When Diane Ladd faced a terrifying diagnosis, there was one thing that helped her
• From her most brutal talk to four years after diagnosis: Diane Ladd is still alive and glowing

Dianne Ladd has been a Hollywood staple for years. She first burst onto the scene during the late 1960s and remained a Hollywood bombshell well into the 1990s.

Now Ladd is nearing her 90s and has raised a beautiful daughter who followed in her acting footsteps. Ladd's daughter, Laura Dern, has also built herself a successful career starring in titles like the "Jurassic Park" franchise and "Big Little Lies," in which she starred alongside Reese Witherspoon.

Dern and Witherspoon have recently spent more time together, and they posted about it on social media, where Ladd made an appearance that shocked fans. Fans were pleased to see the veteran actress looking so good at 87 after being ill.

In 2018, Ladd was diagnosed with lung scarring and given six months to live. The diagnosis shocked Ladd and Dern, who realized she still had so much she wanted to talk to her mother about. She said: "I was shocked at how little I'd asked her." After hearing of her mother's diagnosis, she immediately began asking even more uncomfortable questions.

Now, Dern spends time with her mother and her costars, much to fans' delight. As soon as the photo of the trip surfaced on Witherspoon's Instagram this week, fans began commenting on how wonderful Ladd looked.

One fan said they had always been jealous of Ladd's "porcelain" skin. Another said she looked terrific for her age, and another commented that Ladd and Dern looked like sisters.

Many others were also stunned by Ladd's youthful appearance and praised her for looking wonderful even though she is nearing her ninth decade. Fans were enamored with the photo of the trio.

When Ladd Faced A Terrifying Diagnosis

In 2018, Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and told she only had six months to live. Doctors then told the family that Ladd could take long walks to help her breathe more deeply and expand her lung capacity.

Dern felt her world crumbling when she heard the news and knew that she would be the one to take these long walks with her mother to help her find some comfort in her daily life. Ladd was on oxygen, but that didn't stop the two women from walking around Santa Monica.

On these walks, Dern began asking her mother all the questions she had never asked her before for fear of hurting or bothering her. Dern also recorded all of their conversations on her phone so her children would have them one day.

Although the walks were initially difficult and painful for Ladd because she was on oxygen and her lungs weren't in good shape, she soon saw the benefit of the walks. She even told Dern it felt therapeutic to discuss her heartbreak and hardships. Dern confirmed:

"And she said that she really felt finally releasing some of the grief and challenged and heartbreak of her life."

The pair talked about everything, and in between the more complex topics, they laughed together about silly fights they had over the years and shared happy memories of their lives together. The women were able to share more than ever before.

Dern revealed that even though some topics were difficult to broach with her mother, like Ladd's divorce from Dern's father or the death of Ladd and Dern's father's first child, their conversations resulted in a "profound deepening" of their relationship.

From Hard Talks to Four Years After Diagnosis: Ladd is Still Alive and Glowing

When the pair began their walks, on the first one, Dern asked Ladd what she wanted to talk about. Ladd replied she wanted to talk about death, saying she wasn't afraid to die but that she also wasn't going to believe doctors who told her she was going to die in six months.

It was Ladd's belief that she should see many doctors and get different opinions, as well as try other healing modalities and rely on the love she and her daughter shared to pull her through the difficult time. She once mused: "I chose to live."

When asked what the most challenging thing was to talk about, Dern confirmed it was the death of her sister, who had passed at 18 months old after drowning. She said it was a conversation meant to heal and not hurt her mother, but it was a complex topic.

Ladd admitted she had never talked to Dern about her sister's passing because she didn't want to hurt her. However, she realized that she hadn't done Dern any favors in pretending nothing had happened.

Dern confirmed that after they could lay everything out regarding her sister's death, she felt like she and her mother had entered a new phase in their relationship where they could talk about anything.

Now, Ladd is proud that she has lived three and a half years longer than doctors told her she would. She joked that she had made a tv show, movies and written a book since they told her she would soon be dead.

The book in question is the one that Ladd and Dern wrote together, and it is based on all the conversations they had on the walks they took just after Ladd got her initial diagnosis. Dern and Ladd co-wrote it.

The book contains anecdotes and revelations from the pair and glimpses inside the life they shared and the conversations they were too scared to have until they thought the time might be up for good.

Ladd is glowing three and a half years after doctors expected her to pass on, and she credits her daughter somewhat with her recovery. What an incredible mother-daughter duo!

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