Rosalynn Carter has been diagnosed with dementia just a few months after her husband Jimmy Carter entered end of life care.
The Carter Center announced the news on Tuesday, saying in a statement: “She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones.”
The couple remain at their home in Georgia in the southern US.
The statement mentioned the former first lady’s long-term advocacy for mental health, and said the announcement was being made to reduce stigma.
READ MORE: US senator says Russian arrest warrant is a ‘badge of honor’
The statement continued: “We recognise, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support.
“We hope sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.”
The statement also said Rosalynn Carter had “often noted that there are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.
“The universality of caregiving is clear in our family, and we are experiencing the joy and the challenges of this journey.
“We do not expect to comment further and ask for understanding for our family and for everyone across the country serving in a caregiver role.”
Mr Carter, her husband of 67 years, has been receiving hospice care since February following several stays in hospital.
The hospice care announcement prompted ongoing tributes and media attention regarding his four year presidency between 1977 and 1981, as well as the global humanitarian work the couple has undertaken since co-founding The Carter Center after leaving the White House in 1982.
Speaking at an event honouring his grandfather, Jason Carter said on Tuesday: “That’s been one of the blessings of the last couple of months.
“He is certainly getting to see the outpouring and it’s been gratifying to him for sure.”
The former president also gets updates on The Carter Center’s Guinea worm eradication programme, launched in the mid-1980s when millions of people suffered from the parasite spread by unclean drinking water.
The programme has been a huge success, with fewer than two dozen known cases worldwide currently.
His grandson said Mr Carter is still enjoying his favourite simple pleasures despite his old age, saying he continues to enjoy peanut butter ice cream, his preferred flavour, in keeping with his political brand as a peanut farmer.
Speaking to AP, Andrew Young, who served as Carter’s UN Ambassador, told the AP that he too visited the Carters “a few weeks back” and was “very pleased we could laugh and joke about old times.”
The Carters are the longest-ever married presidential couple, having wed in 1946.
At 98, Jimmy Carter is the oldest living former president and the longest-lived former president in US history.
