For several weeks, the National Enquirer has been running stories about Dennis Hopper, age 73, being on his “deathbed”. I didn’t really think anything of it, because quite honestly, the Enquirer puts people on death watch far too often and they are wrong far too often to take them seriously. However, I was wrong – it looks like Dennis is very sick, and most likely dying. The Huffington Post is reporting it now, although they’re just going with unverified rumors and “reports”. But, it looks like Dennis Hopper doesn’t want to spend his last days with one person in particular – his wife Victoria. Dennis filed for divorce from Victoria, his fifth wife, yesterday. There are mixed signals about what this divorce filing is all about – is Dennis Hopper “mentally incapacitated” or is this all about the money?

Dennis Hopper, who is reportedly facing his ‘final days surrounded by family and friends,’ filed for divorce yesterday from his wife of 14 years, Victoria Hopper, the mother of their six-year-old daughter Galen.

Victoria is wife number five, but this marriage has far outlasted the previous four, which included the 8-day marriage to Michelle Phillips. He and Victoria have been together for 18 years. So what happened?

Adding to the confusion, a family friend told Huffington Post that Hopper is mentally incapacitated from the enormous amounts of medication he is on given his state.

A long time friend of the couple said, “It’s truly a tragedy, and sadly its all about the money and who inherits what. This is about getting Victoria out of the will, nothing more, nothing less.”

Hopper has three grown children, Marin, Henry and Ruthiana, although he reportedly has not spoken with Ruthiana in recent years. Both Marin, her daughter and Henry have lived for years in the same Venice, California compound as Dennis, Victoria and Galen and continue to do so at this juncture.

[From The Huffington Post]

Um… if he wanted his wife out of the will, wouldn’t it just be easier to rewrite your will, rather than filing for divorce on your deathbed? I guess there could be inheritance laws and some complicated legal issues at play, but I think those legal issues will only get worse after Hopper’s death when Victoria’s lawyers bring up the whole “mentally incapacitated” thing.

Since we’re now going with the Enquirer’s reporting as reasonably accurate, I was wondering just why Hopper seems to have gone downhill so fast. The Enquirer reports that Hopper “was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September, and the disease has metastasized to his bones” and that he “has come to grips with the fact that the end is likely near.” They also claim that even with experimental treatments, Hopper’s condition worsened, and he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sometimes before Christmas. He is currently missing work on the television series Crash, but Hopper did complete the compilation of his photographic work, which he considers his “legacy.” So sad.

Dennis Hopper in New York on October 5, 2009, and with his fifth wife Victoria at the 2009 Oscars on February 22. Credit for all: WENN.