Dr. Oz Reveals Why He Felt ‘Guilty’ and ‘Mad’ After Learning of His Mom Suna’s Alzheimer’s Disease

TV personality Dr. Oz felt an incredible amount of guilt once he learned his mother, Suna Oz, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. 

“I’m feeling guilty because I completely missed the signs until fairly late in the process,” he recently explained to People about his mom’s failing health, admitting that it was a “gut punch” for him.

Dr. Oz, 59, and his two sisters unfortunately didn’t notice Suna was forgetting how to do a lot of things — like how to dress herself and talk. “If the right word was, ‘You look beautiful today,’ she would use, ‘You look pretty prettier today.’ I missed those clues,” he explained.

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Missing those signs made the TV doctor feel “frustrated and mad” that he couldn’t help his mother sooner. “Everyone in my family probably could’ve figured this out, myself included. But my wishful thinking was that it was just mom being a little bit older, she’s stressed out, my dad was ill. And so we lost our truth,” he said.

“Alzheimer’s is like a snake in the grass. You don’t see it. You only see the effects of it suddenly. And if there’s a wind blowing the grass, you don’t even notice the grass moving strangely. It sneaks up on you,” the TV star added.

In order to take care of Suna properly, the Oz family has been letting her live with her sister in Turkey so she could receive around-the-clock care. “She’s aware, but she’s forgetting some things,” Dr. Oz admitted. But seeing his mother fight the disease has been too much for him to bear.

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“These are not normal things from my mom. And that’s the most painful part of this whole process because I end up losing my mom twice,” he explained. “The woman that I love whose bright eyes were there for every experience I’ve ever had as a child — those eyes are starting to dim. The light that made her who she was is starting to go out.”

“As she stops knowing what I’m talking about, as her memories evaporate, she stops being my mom,” he continued. “And then her body will still be there, and obviously I love that body, but it won’t be the same as loving my mom.”

We’re so sorry that your mother is going through this, Dr. Oz.