What did Joan Didion die of? Tributes pour in as literary legend passes away at 87

Joan Didion recently passed away after a battle with Parkinson’s (Image via Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

Acclaimed American novelist and prose specialist Joan Didion is no more. She passed away in Manhattan on December 23, aged 87.

Didion’s friend and writer Hilton Als confirmed the news on Instagram:

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Joan Didion’s cause of death explored

Didion died of Parkinson’s disease, as stated in the email sent to The New York Times by her publisher and Knopf executive, Paul Bogaards.

Joan Didion’s husband, John Gregory Dunne, died 18 years ago, in 2003, at the age of 71, due to a heart attack. Her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, died two years later because of pancreatitis and septic shock.

Didion was mainly known for capturing the ’60s and California with her observant and beautiful language.

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Journey of Joan Didion as a successful writer

Joan Didion during the Hammer Museum Gala at Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California (Image via Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images)

Born on December 5, 1934, Joan Didion made her debut as the winner of an essay contest by Vogue magazine.

Didion’s article, Berkeley’s Giant: The University of California, was published by Mademoiselle in 1960. She then wrote her first novel — Run, River — published in 1963.

Her next novel was Play It as It Lays, published in 1970, followed by A Book of Common Prayer in 1977. She then published a collection of magazine pieces called The White Album in 1979.

Joan published her next novel, Democracy, in 1984. It was a story of a love affair between a wealthy heiress and an old CIA officer in the background of the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

The Sacramento, California, native then published a collection of twelve geographical essays and a personal memorial for Henry Robbins called After Henry in 1992, followed by the romantic thriller, The Last Thing He Wanted, in 1996. Didion and John Gregory also collaborated and wrote screenplays for various films.

Following the death of her husband and the illness of her daughter, Didion started writing a narrative called The Year of Magical Thinking in October 2004, and it was her first nonfiction book.

Joan Didion then worked with director David Hare on a stage adaptation of The Year of Magical Thinking in 2007. She also wrote early drafts of the screenplay for an HBO biopic directed by Robert Benton.

The literary star then published a collection of 12 essays she wrote from 1968 to 2000, called Let Me Tell You What I Mean, in 2021.

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Personal life and health issues

Joan Didion met John Gregory Dunne while she was working at Vogue. They tied the knot in 1964 and shifted to Los Angeles and welcomed a daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, in March 1966 in New York City.

Didion was a resident of Brentwood Park, California, in 1979. She mentioned a nervous breakdown she suffered in 1968 in the title essay of The White Album. In another piece, In Bed, she stated that she suffered from chronic migraines.

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Public pays tribute to Joan Didion on Twitter

Didion’s name was familiar to everyone who loved to read novels. Public and well-known personalities paid tribute to her while the news went viral.

After her daughter died, Joan Didion was staying in an apartment on New York City’s East 71st Street, and her nephew, Griffin Dunne, made a documentary on her called Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold. It was released on October 27, 2017, on Netflix.