Lauren Miller Rogen opened up about the crushing isolation she felt after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 55.
“I was in my 20s, and I felt so alone,” Miller Rogen, 44, said at a special screening of “Tangles” earlier this week. “I was sure I was the youngest person who had experienced this, and no one could understand.”
The actress and filmmaker, who married Seth Rogen in 2011 after meeting the comedian on a blind date in 2004, eventually discovered a community of young caregivers facing similar struggles. “I was not alone and I was not the youngest and I was unfortunately, but also fortunately, part of a huge community that did understand,” she shared.
That realization helped spark a decade-long advocacy mission. In 2012, Miller Rogen and her husband launched Hilarity for Charity, a nonprofit devoted to Alzheimer’s awareness and family support. The organization has since become a major force in brain health education.
The couple channeled their experience into “Tangles,” an animated film they produced about a woman grappling with her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Abbi Jacobson, Bryan Cranston and Beanie Feldstein lend their voices to the project.
Miller Rogen said the work has transformed her outlook on the disease, which currently has no cure. “At Hilarity for Charity, we’ve learned so much about brain health; we have education to teach people how to keep their brains healthy,” she explained. “And so it’s not as dark as it was. There’s still a lot more work to be done, but there is a lot of hope, which is amazing.”
Seth Rogen, 44, voiced emphatic support for his wife’s impact when the outlet raised the idea that she outshines him in their household. “Very much so,” the “Superbad” star agreed. “We’ve been together a long time. I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen it firsthand.”
The “For a Good Time, Call…” actress has spoken before about watching her mother’s decline begin in her early twenties, a period when most peers were not confronting parental illness. The diagnosis came as her mother was still relatively young, upending Miller Rogen’s assumptions about who Alzheimer’s affects and when.
Through Hilarity for Charity, the Rogens have funded research and support programs while using comedy to reach audiences who might otherwise avoid the topic. Their annual variety shows have drawn major performers and raised millions for the cause.
Miller Rogen and her husband continue to expand their advocacy through projects like “Tangles,” which aims to bring the caregiver experience to wider audiences through animation.