“Barbara’s being cared for and loved. She’s not in a box. Not struggling or dying,” hereassured the outlet. “I take care of Barbara. I’ll always take care of her.”
He has since become her full-time caretaker at their East Hampton home, where Lerner, 54, also stays and helps out when she is visiting from Manhattan.
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The news of Smith’s diagnosis came as she was continuing to build her empire. Over the years, she opened three eponymous restaurants, wrote three cookbooks and hosted the nationally syndicated show,B. Smith With Style.
She also made history as the first African-American woman to grace the cover ofMademoisellemagazine, as well as the first African-American woman to launch her own brand of home goods (atBed, Bath and Beyond).
“I have a seven-bedroom house, in partnership with an assisted-living facility, still handling our Bed Bath & Beyond products, working on a documentary about her and trying to do a radio show,” he explained to Page Six. “Diagnosed with dementia in 2013, Barbara then told me to live my life. It would maybe not be bad if I weren’t so lonely.”
“My daughter, Dana, who’s 32, is caring for her. My ladyfriend Alexandra is taking care,” he explained. “We’ve gone through the whole circle of brain foundations.”
“Alex’s father suffered with this same illness. She saw her father who was all alone become a child,” he continued. “She understands what this is like. She was married, had three children and the husband left her. Look, we all watch over Barbara. We take walks with her. We are all caring for her.”
“Everybody tells you how to live your life,” he told Page Six. “But that’s while they’re living theirs and not surviving through our problems. I’m in my 60s. I lived tied up in a box five years. Childlike, Barbara can no longer spell a word.”
He also addressed critics in a post on Facebook, where he explained, “I love my wife but I can’t let her take away my life!”
“It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever dealt with,” he said. “Anybody who is an Alzheimer’s care giver knows exactly what other caregivers are going through. It’s 24/7. The complexity and the intensity of it is very tough.”
“It’s extremely difficult,” he added. “At times I feel like I am between the Titanic and the iceberg and the water is cold and it makes a difference which one I get on.”
source: people.com
