How Diane Ladd Lost Her First Child at Only 18 Months Old

The late Hollywood icon welcomed her daughter with her first husband in the 1960s. While the former couple went on to have another child, the death of their first put irrevocable strain on their marriage.

Diane Ladd only ever had two children in her life, and she welcomed both with her first husband, "The Hateful Eight" star Bruce Dern. The couple first crossed paths when they both appeared in an off-Broadway production of "Orpheus Descending" in New York City.

While they initially got off on the wrong foot in their first encounter, they became friends. Still, it wasn't long before things turned romantic and they eventually got married in 1960. Shortly afterward, they discovered they were expecting their first child.

According to Diane, Bruce had been told that he wouldn't be able to conceive, so they were taken by surprise when they found out she was pregnant. Their first daughter, Diane Elizabeth, was born in 1961.

Only 18 months later, however, the little one died in a tragic pool accident while in the care of a nanny. "She fell into the pool," Diane shared during a 2023 interview with CBS. "She hit her head and knocked herself out."

"And it all happened instantly," she continued. "And she died, and you will never get over that. I don't care what you say to yourself. I don't care who says what. The child is not supposed to die before the parent."

The "Rambling Rose" star and her husband went on to have another child, their daughter Laura Dern, in 1967. In a 1992 interview with Parade Magazine, Diane admitted she struggled to not become overprotective of Laura.

"I was terrified, being on my own with Laura. I had to force myself not to be overly protective because I had lost one child," she said. "The result was that it worked the other way. I allowed her to be a free thinker, and that helped her become her own person."

Unfortunately, the loss of her first daughter still took a heavy toll on her marriage with Bruce. The couple divorced when Laura was two. "We suffered the tragedy of our daughter's death together and thought another child would help us, but we were so bruised," Diane reflected.

After their divorce, the actress went on to raise Laura alongside her mother, Mary Bernadette Ladner. Although Bruce lived nearby, Laura spent most of her time at her mother's house.

"I definitely was raised by my mom and my grandma but I spent a lot of time with [my dad] as I got older," Laura said during her appearance on the "WTF With Marc Maron" podcast. "I think he kind of, as you could imagine probably, didn't really know what to do with a small person"

She continued, "I think [my mom] realized that she might just be better off kind of trying to figure out how to do it with her mom and, you know, getting our own pad and letting him have his life as he needed it at the time."