Barbara Corcoran is leaning on the lessons her late mother taught her as she faces one of life’s most complicated challenges. The “Shark Tank” star, 75, revealed that her husband of 37 years, retired Navy captain and former FBI agent Bill Higgins, is living in a memory care facility after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“My husband has Alzheimer’s, and he’s living in the memory ward of an extended care home,” Corcoran told Parade. “It’s an extremely difficult journey. But because I had my mother go through this earlier, I feel better equipped to give him everything he needs.”
(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Churchill Downs)Corcoran’s mother, Florence, passed away in 2012 at age 87 after her own battle with Alzheimer’s. That experience, the entrepreneur says, taught her compassion, patience, and how to truly connect with someone she loves, lessons that now guide her every day.
Learning to ‘Get in Their World’
(Disney/Christopher Willard) Reflecting on both experiences, Corcoran said the key to communication is to meet loved ones where they are. “Get in their world. The minute you see them, get into their world,” she explained. “My husband doesn’t know who I am; he’s still back in Annapolis playing football, so I bring football photos and put them on his wall.”
Rather than trying to bring her husband back to reality, she said she finds peace by embracing his memories. “I ask him to tell me about his plays. He has a great memory for what he did on the football field. Whatever he’s talking about, I get right in his world.”
Lessons Her Mother Left Behind
Corcoran credits her mother with teaching her lessons she now applies to business, family, and caregiving. “If there’s one gift my mother had, it was identifying the gift in each and every one of her children,” said Corcoran, who grew up one of ten siblings in a two-bedroom flat.
She modeled her real estate business after her mother’s nurturing philosophy. “The first ingredient was taking on the attitude my mother had about us as children,” she shared. “It was the only lesson I really had to learn from her — see people for their gifts and lift them up.”
Continuing to Inspire Others
(Disney/Christopher Willard) Parade reported that Corcoran joined fellow Shark Tank stars Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary, Daniel Lubetzky, and Daymond John at the Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas. Speaking to hundreds of entrepreneurs, Corcoran reflected on resilience, leadership, and the power of community, lessons she says come directly from her mother’s influence.
“The way she saw people, the way she believed in all of us — that’s how I run my business and my life,” Corcoran said. “Even through the hardest times, I hear her voice reminding me to look for the good.”
