Death Cause & Obituary: How DidJoan Didion Die The Writer Is No More!

May 2024 · 4 minute read

Joan Didion, the iconic American author, died at the get of 87 on December 23, and out of curiosity, people want to know her death cause.

On December 23, 2021, the world-renowned American writer, Joan Didion, died at the age of 87. The writer’s demise has sent her fans in deep mourning, especially in the literary world.

Joan was able to establish herself as a distinctive fiction writer, later shifting her writing into political reporting and screenplay writing.

The 87 year old first stepped into the world of writers after launching her essay in the 1960s through a contest sponsored by Vogue magazine.

During the time of mid-1960s and mid-1970 or the time of Counter culture of the 1960s, Didion’s writing exclusively focused on political and social rhetoric.

Didion penned down five novels, six screenplays, and many others writings. Among them, her latest work was a non-fiction book, South and West, in 2017 and

 a collection of essays, Let Me Tell You What I Mean, released earlier this year.

Death Cause & Obituary: How Did Joan Didion Die?

According to her obituary by The Guardian, Joan Didion’s cause of death was from Parkinson’s disease.

Joan was born on December 5, 1934, in Sacramento, California, and was fond of reading and writing from an early age. According to her Wikipedia, the writer’s earliest memory of writing was when she was just 5 years old.

Moving on, Didion received a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1956, and as a senior, won the Prix de Paris, an essay contest sponsored by Vogue Magazine. With that achievement, she landed a research assistant job at the magazine.

“The writer is always tricking the reader into listening to the dream.”

Rest in peace, Joan Didion (1934–2021). Read more from the Art of Fiction No. 71: https://t.co/TNq9TKfElQ pic.twitter.com/0Y721iMtgi

— The Paris Review (@parisreview) December 23, 2021

It was where, Didin met her future husband and a distinguished American writer, John Gregory Dunne. The writer’s duo married in 1964, and in 1966, adopted a baby as their daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. 

Her husband, John, died of a massive heart attack, and two years later, she lost her beloved daughter, Quintana, who died of acute pancreatitis.

What Happened To Joan Didion?

According to her publisher and Knopf executive, Paul Bogaards’s statement given to the New York Times, the American writer Joan Didion suffered from Parkinson’s disease, which eventually was the reason for her death.

Best-selling writer Joan Didion has died from Parkinson’s Disease. She was 87.

Beginning in the 1960s, her works influenced a generation of journalists, fiction fans and memoir readers.https://t.co/qPoc1aaEiV

— NPR (@NPR) December 23, 2021

The writer has extensively talked about her health issues through her writing. In her essay, The White Album, she wrote about having a nervous breakdown, and in another essay titled, In Bed, the writer revealed suffering from chronic migraines.

Since the death of her husband and daughter, Didion was living on New York City’s East 71st Street, where her nephew, Griffin Dunne, filmed a documentary on her, which was released on Netflix in 2017 titled, Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.

Parkinson’s disease, which causes the disorder of the central nervous system affecting the body moment, eventually took the writer’s life on December 23, 2021.

Who Was Joan Didion Husband And Kids?

Joan Didion was married to John Gregory Dunne, with whom she adopted a kid and named her Quintana Roo Dunne.

Joan met John while working as a research assistant at Vogue magazine, At the time, Gregory, a distinguished writer himself, worked at Time Magazine.

Joan Didion
1934 -2021

with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and their daughter, Quintana Roo.

“Why I Write”, first appeared in The New York Times Magazine, 1976.
From “Let Me Tell You What I Mean”, Knopf, 2021 pic.twitter.com/ZvSRlOXexV

— Vincent Dozol (@VinDozol) December 23, 2021

The couple married in 1964 and adopted their Quintana in 1966.

Sadly, she lost her husband, Dunne, to a heart attack, and after two years, the mother lost her beloved daughter result of acute pancreatitis in 2005.

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