Alan Alda, 90, Says He Realized He Was Old When His Daughters Went on Medicare
Alan Alda, 90, Says He Realized He Was Old When His Daughters Went on Medicare
Lexi Lane, Tabitha ParentSat, May 30, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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Alan Alda with daughters Elizabeth, Eve and Beatrice in New York City in 1979
Credit: Ron Galella/Getty
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Alan Alda reflected on aging and shared that he realized he was old when his daughters went on Medicare
The M*A*S*H alum celebrated his 90th birthday in January
The actor also discussed living with Parkinson’s disease
Alan Alda is getting candid about getting older.
As part of the Alan Alda, Joy Behar and Roger Rosenblatt in Conversation: More Rules for Aging event at 92NY in New York City on Thursday, May 21, the M*A*S*H alum chatted about his life as a 90-year-old.
“You get a hint that you're older when you're like me and you discover that you've got three daughters and they're all on Medicare,” the actor explained, referring to daughters Eve, 67, Elizabeth, 65, and Beatrice, 64.
Alan shares his children with wife Arlene Alda, whom he married in 1957.
Alan Alda and wife Arlene Alda in 2019
Credit: Charley Gallay/Getty
“But people tell you, the world tells you you're older. I don't count how old I am by the number of years I've lived. I counted by how many times a day somebody says, ‘Can I help you?’ ” Alan added.
Alan, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015, went public with the diagnosis in 2018. Since then, Alda has continued acting, with Arlene supporting him.
The two got married when Alan was 21 years old. As the story goes, they met at a party after being the only two people to eat a cake that fell on the floor.
"We did eat the rum cake off the floor and were inseparable after that. But I was captivated by her even earlier in the meal when I heard her at the end of the table laughing at my jokes. She had me at Ha," he wrote on X.
Alan Alda in 2020
Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic
During the May 21 event, Alan discussed celebrating his 90th birthday on Jan. 28.
"I was just thinking of the day, the actual day that I was 90 this year," he recalled. "We went out to dinner and the waiter came by at the end of the meal with a cupcake with a candle in it and led the singing, saying, 'Happy birthday, older gentleman.' Then I blew out the candle and they said, 'You did it yourself. I didn't help you.' They kind of let you know."
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His grandson Jake Alda Coffey shared a sweet photo on X of Alan from the birthday dinner. "Happy 90th birthday to my grandpa!! He's my biggest role model," Coffey captioned it. Another post showed Alan enjoying some birthday cake with his loved ones.
"My grandpa is really touched by all the love he's gotten today," Coffey added. "We had a lowkey night celebrating his 90th birthday, which was full of laughs. After dinner, we went home and ate rum cake a friend of his baked. A perfect end to the night."
Rosenblatt, 86, later asked Alda about what "pleases" him about being able to "look back on your life" and "think about yourself, not in an egotistical way, in an artistic way, but just in a kind of general biographical way."
Alan responded, "I mean, what I'm more interested in reality than wishing you weren't ... So I have Parkinson's. For me, it's a game of solving puzzles. I mean, a really interesting puzzle is how do you get your pants on without falling on the floor?"
In May 2025, Alan told PEOPLE that he was "making progress" before joking adding, "I didn't say in which direction."
Alan encounters face blindness, the inability to recognize familiar faces otherwise known as prosopagnosia, which affects how he approaches day-to-day life.
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"Almost every day I'm finding a new way to do something,” he said. “It's a little like a game. I've found whatever the little problem is, if I keep at it, I can eventually solve it, and then I feel like a million bucks. It's a way to have a good time under poor circumstances."
Alan added that his Parkinson's has "gone from a part-time job to almost a full-time job keeping track of all these little solutions. But it keeps me always looking for the funny side."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
