When actress Raquel Welch died, her family simply said that she had a “brief illness,” but now that her death certificate has been made public, we know her cause of death.
The “brief illness” turned out to be cardiac arrest, but according to the death certificate, she also had other underlying health issues. According to her Los Angeles County death certificate, the late actress was also battling Alzheimer’s disease. During her life, it was never made public that the star had Alzheimer’s. She was 82 years old when she died.
Welch died at her home in Los Angeles. Approximately 90% of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting die in just minutes.
Welch had a decades-long film career that started back in 1964. Her first credit was “A House Is Not a Home,” but her big break came two years later when she acted in “Fantastic Voyage” and “One Million Years B.C.” Her outfit in “One Million Years B.C.” made her an instant sex symbol.
Her last film credit was in 2017. She worked steadily on a variety of movies and TV shows throughout her career.
Before launching a career as an actress, Welch was on TV as a weather girl in San Diego.
Welch was married four different times. She has two children from her marriage to her first husband, James Welch. Her second husband was Patrick Curtis, and her third husband was André Weinfeld. She divorced her fourth husband, Richie Palmer, in 2004.
It seemed that Welch didn’t always like being considered a sex symbol. She seemed to feel that inner beauty was just as important, if not more so, than external beauty. In 2010, she told The L.A. Times, “As life goes on, you get more valuable as a person. Many women look better. Personally, I think I look better because I have lived, and I have a different kind of aura about me having lived.”
Welch is survived by her children, Damon Welch and Tahnee Welch. Since her death, her body has been cremated.
