Katherine LaNasa says her late ex-husband Dennis Hopper stayed with her long after his death — at least in her dreams.
The Pitt actress, 59, was married to the Hollywood legend from 1989 to 1992. Years later, after Hopper died in 2010 at age 74 following a battle with prostate cancer, LaNasa said she felt as if he still had unfinished business with her.
The actress said Hopper “would not leave me alone for a really long time.”
LaNasa, who shares 36-year-old son Henry Hopper with the Easy Rider star, recalled a series of vivid dreams that left her shaken.
In one dream, she said Hopper appeared at the Academy Awards.
“He was in a wheelchair and he fell down and it was super upsetting,” the Truth Be Told actress said.
At the time of Hopper’s death, his personal life was anything but peaceful. The actor was in the middle of a bitter split from his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy.
Because of that, LaNasa ended up spending more time with him near the end of his life, even though they had been divorced for years.
“I was the last wife that he’d been with that he wasn’t currently divorcing,” she said.
LaNasa said the experience created a kind of emotional intimacy that was hard to explain.
“I think that level of intimacy when you’re dying is maybe only something you can do with a partner?” she said.
That closeness may be why, in LaNasa’s view, Hopper seemed to keep reaching out after he was gone.
But eventually, the dreams became too much.
“He used to come over to me in a sweat and I told him he had to leave me alone, and then he did,” LaNasa said.
Still, the strange feeling did not disappear right away.
LaNasa said she felt unsettled after telling someone how strange the dreams had been. That same day, she took an unusual route home and stumbled upon a gallery showing Hopper’s photographs.
Inside, she said, there was one image that stopped her cold.
In the back of the gallery was a photograph of Hopper wearing a fedora and winking at the camera.
LaNasa took it as a sign.
She said Hopper appeared to her only one more time after that.
In the final dream, the two were in a cafeteria in Greece. This time, the feeling was different.
“We were both in a cafeteria in Greece, and he told me that he was okay and that he wasn’t in pain anymore and he was good,” LaNasa said.
After that, the visits stopped.
“And I never heard from him again,” she said.
