CNN founder Ted Turner reveals he's battling a form of dementia that affects his mind and body
- CNN founder Ted Turner has revealed he's battling Lewy body dementia.
- The neurodegenerative disease alters his memory, mood, movement, and behavior.
- Turner opened up about his battle with the disease in an interview with CBS set to air on Sunday morning.
CNN founder Ted Turner revealed he is suffering from Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that alters his memory, mood, movement and behavior.
In an interview set to air on CBS on Sunday, Turner, 79, opened up about his struggle with the disease and said he has a hard time remembering its name.
"It's a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer's," Turner said in the interview. "It's similar to that. But not nearly as bad. Alzheimer's is fatal. Thank goodness I don't have that. But, I also have got... I can't remember the name of it."
Then Turner said: "Dementia. I can't remember what my disease is."
Lewy body dementia affects more than a million individuals in the United States, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
In excerpts of the interview released by CBS, Turner said he was misdiagnosed with depression before doctors realized it was actually dementia that was affecting him.
He added that his main symptoms are being tired, exhausted and forgetful.
The billionaire philanthropist launched CNN in 1980 as the country's first 24-hour all-news network.
He later became the vice chairman of Time Warner but resigned in 2003 and is no longer involved in the company. He said that other than occasionally watching CNN, he doesn't watch much news anymore.
"I think they're sticking with politics a little too much," Turner said. "They'd do better to have a more balanced agenda. But that's, you know, just one person's opinion."