In the never ending slog of bad news, it’s wonderful to hear that Lana Wood, sister to the late Natalie Wood, is doing okay after reports said she was homeless last year.
Wood was living in a motel with her daughter, son-in-law, three grandchildren and two dogs, when a friend set up a GoFundMe page for the family. Page Six reports that the set goal was $10,000 and they raised $29,635. Wood credits the support of fans with a new lease on life, as well as a lease on a house:
“Oh goodness, if I wasn’t able to touch [that money], I wouldn’t have electricity, water, or a roof over my head,” she said. “But you know, the thing a lot of us forget, myself included, is you put down first, last, and a security deposit and you’re in a place. But how about all the deposits necessary for water, gas, electricity — all of our things had to be put in storage. Even doing that we lost more than half of everything we owned… and finding a motel that would accept us with dogs was not easy. It was costly … We’re still coming to terms with everything, so we’re not pulled together by any stretch of the imagination, but we’re trying. I’m trying very hard to make it a home.”
Wood is best known for her role across from Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever, in which she played femme fatale Plenty O’Toole. Her daughter Evan has been battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and has to be on oxygen at all times since her lungs were scarred by radiation treatments. The cost of medical bills demolished the family, and they were evicted from their home in California.
Wood has not received any help from any of Natalie Wood’s daughters, nor her husband, Robert Wagner. In 2011, Lana Wood pressed for more answers regarding Natalie’s death in 1981, which had long been labeled an “accidental drowning,” but was then changed by officials to “undetermined” after new information shared by the yacht’s captain seemed to implicate Wagner. Authorities, however, say Wagner is not a suspect and he denies any involvement in her death. Wood seems sure that if her sister were alive today, she would have aided her:
“Oh, she would have done everything possible to help,” she explained. “Natalie was a very loving, very giving person… sometimes to an extreme. She also went through a period of time where she said she’s gotta stop caring so much when it’s not good for her. And she did that through therapy. You know, she would have done everything in her power to help. She probably would have turned around and bought us a house!”
