Bruce Dern Reflects on Oldest Daughter's Drowning Death at 18 Months in New Documentary: 'You Never Get Over It'

Bruce Dern discusses how his oldest daughter with ex-wife Diane Ladd died tragically at 18 months old in the new documentary Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern.

The new documentary on Dern's life premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in France on May 20, with Bruce, 89, and his daughter Laura Dern, 59, in attendance. In the film, Bruce, who was married to Laura's mother Ladd from 1960 to 1969, recounts how his and Ladd's first daughter, Diane Elizabeth, drowned in a pool at their home in 1962.

"My wife was at a Dodgers game; I was at a track meet at the Coliseum," Bruce recalls in the film. "I was told over the loudspeaker to go to the desk, and some plainclothes cop said to me, 'Are you Bruce Dern?' And I said 'Yes,' and he said, 'You should go home right now, because your child just drowned in a swimming pool.' "

As Bruce recalls, Diane Elizabeth was spending time with the family's maid at their home in Los Angeles while both her parents were out. While the maid was answering a phone call, Diane Elizabeth used a spoon to open a lock on a gate that allowed her to access the family's pool. The maid did not realize the toddler was in the pool when she began looking for Diane Elizabeth "because the gate had swung shut," Bruce remembers.

"So I go home. I went into the bedroom, and I looked at the little girl on the bed, and It's the only time in my life, I think, that it broke my heart," he said. "I felt ashamed that it was on my watch. I never got over it. You never get over it."

"Because Diane and I shared a tragedy, we stayed together longer than we should have, but out of it, five years later, came Laura," Bruce says in the film. "About a month later, it was over for Diane and I, and we never really talked it out. She wasn't there. I wasn't there.”

Ladd, who was a three-time Oscar-nominated actor, died at age 89 in November 2025. As Bruce notes in the documentary, they separated soon after Laura was born in 1967. Ladd appears in the new documentary only once, in a video message that plays while Bruce looks on; she thanks him "for the children you gave me" in the touching message. In the movie, Bruce also cites the day he, Laura and Ladd received stars on L.A.'s Hollywood Walk of Fame together in 2010 as one of the most important moments of his career.

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In 1990, Bruce told PEOPLE that he did not think his relationship with Ladd "had a chance" after Diane Elizabeth's death. Laura and her mother also told PEOPLE in a 2023 interview that they never spoke about Diane Elizabeth's death for years for fear of harming each other emotionally.

Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern does not yet have a release date following its Cannes Film Festival premiere.