Dennis Hopper's Divorce-Torn Daughter Missed Funeral

By PopEater Staff Posted Jun 7th 2010 05:30PM

Caught up in the messy divorce proceedings between Dennis Hopper and Victoria Duffy, 7-year-old Galen Grier Hopper was forced to miss her father's funeral last week. The battle for the actor's multimillion-dollar estate could rage for several years if both sides persist, but the immediate victim is, without question, young Galen.

"That's the thing that's just tragic," a friend of the couple tells The Daily Beast. "A 7-year-old girl has just lost her father, and she can't even go to his funeral."

Each side tells a different story, with Victoria's friends saying Galen was "disinvited," and Hopper's friends insisting Victoria used Galen "as a pawn." Read on for the full letter from Hopper's attorney to Duffy's camp.

A day prior to the funeral, Hopper's attorney, Joe Mannis, contacted Duffy's people with an amicable arrangement for the funeral. The transmission, obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast, reads as follows:

"As your client knows, the funeral for Mr. Hopper will be where he wanted to be buried in Taos, New Mexico. As your client also knows ... she is not invited to the funeral. It was Mr. Hopper's specific wish that Ms. Hopper not attend his funeral. Ms. Hopper has indicated that she is not going to allow Galen to attend the funeral unless she attends. Mr. Hopper's family (particularly after what was said about them in the press by Ms. Hopper) does not wish that Ms. Hopper attend the funeral. On the family's behalf, I request that [her nanny] be allowed to bring Galen to the funeral and return her thereafter. Please let me know whether your client will consent to do what I can only call the 'decent thing.'"

Though the letter seems well-intentioned, one of Victoria's friends says it arrived hours before the funeral. "It's insane. You don't send a 7-year-old on a private plane to her father's funeral without her mother," the source says.

The vicious he-said, she-said is nothing new for matters concerning Hopper and Duffy [pictured at right]. The 'Easy Rider' star married Victoria, his fifth wife, in 1996; they crumbled into dysfunction not long after. "She found him cruel and controlling, her friends say. He thought she was cold and materialistic, his friends say," The Daily Beast reports. Sources say the couple had not had sex in several years and that Hopper's eldest daughter, Marin (five years Victoria's senior), moved into their home.

Pile on tales of stolen paintings, prenuptial agreements, settlements and irreconcilable differences, and one simple fact remains: A young girl was unable to see her father laid to rest in what was by all accounts a touching service.

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Dennis Hopper Snapshots

The casket of Dennis Hopper is ushered out of the San Francisco de Asis chapel in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., after a memorial service Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Hopper, who was twice nominated for Oscars and earned a star this year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, died Saturday at age 74 at his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009.

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

People wait to enter the San Francisco de Asis chapel for a memorial service for Dennis Hopper in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Dozens of family members, friends and locals attended the service. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

Henry Lee Hopper, center right, the son of Dennis Hopper, gets a hug before a memorial service for his father in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Dozens of Dennis Hopper's family members, friends and Taos locals attended the service. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

Actor Jack Nicholson, right, talks with Taos residents about the iconic film "Easy Rider" after a memorial service for Dennis Hopper in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Hopper first came to New Mexico in 1969 to scout locations for "Easy Rider." Nicholson was among dozens of family members and friends who attended Hopper's memorial service. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

Actor Val Kilmer, right, talks with fellow mourners before a memorial service for Dennis Hopper in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Hopper, 74, who was twice nominated for Oscars and earned a star this year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

The casket of Dennis Hopper is ushered in to the San Francisco de Asis chapel in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., after a memorial service Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Dozens of family members, friends and Taos locals attended the service. Hopper, who was twice nominated for Oscars and earned a star this year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, died Saturday at age 74 at his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

David Hopper, center, talks to friends before a memorial service for his brother, actor, director and artist Dennis Hopper, in Ranchos de Taos, N.M., on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Hopper,74, who was twice nominated for Oscars and earned a star this year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

29: Actor Dennis Hopper seen here in 2004 at the Texas Film Hall Of Fame Awards held in Austin, Texas, died today in Venice CA. May 29, 2010. Dennis Hopper - File Photos Various Locations Los Angeles, CA United States May 30, 2010 Photo by Gary Miller/FilmMagic.com To license this image (17280419), contact FilmMagic.com

Dennis Hopper Snapshots

Tags: Dennis Hopper, Victoria Duffy

Comments

(310)

Monday 07 June

By danait

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I was six years old when my granmother died. My father was not going to take us at first but a relative told him it would be the wrong thing to do. I am now 49 and i'm so glad my dad did take us. We loave her dearly and stlill miss her so but we understood what happened and i do remember to this day what she was wearing. his wife is very wrong for what she has done to this child, she has no ideal what affect it will have on her as she grows up. I know this from personal experice. my father died will i was in the hospital. i was very ill and could not go
the doctors sent me home the night before but i was so sick i was unable to attend. this was 12 years ago and it still bothers me to this day that i did not get to say good-bye

Tuesday 08 June

By jlk

Are you freaking kidding me? That was her FATHER, not a stranger from mup the street!!! Put yourself in her shoes, no matter the age you need closure!! Some people really need to think before they decide to put their 2 cents into somebody else's business!!!

By minnie

Vote down Vote up Report this

I don't think I would either!

By lakeshia

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Hey Mmmm...you're a effing MORON!!! Why would your ignorant behind keep a child from attending the funeral of a loved one?

By Kath

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

I had always liked Dennis Hopper UNTIL he decided to divorce the wife who had stood by him all those years. What kind of MORON would want their young child to attend a tramatic event like their father's funeral WITHOUT having them present to console them? And I certainly wouldn't want to do the family any favors for not inviting me when I had been with my husband for so many years.

This is about the GREED of the children!! Apparently, HALF of Dennis Hopper's MILLIONS weren't enough! They wanted it ALL. SHAME on them!

I hope that his wife holds out to what is rightfully HERS!

By ADALITA

WRONG!WRONG! WRONG!

By mec1140

"Rightfully" hers? What year did she go to work and contribute and, if she did, that's ALL that's "rightfully" hers. If Dennis Hopper was such a rotten person, she should have divorced him years ago and left with what she brought to the marriage. The only responsibility Mr. Hopper/his estate has is to his children. She's a grown woman, let her make her own money and buy her own paintings and buy her own home....or maybe her daughter will be gracious and do it for her.

By Michael

Mommie Dearest could've easily flown with Galen and simply not attended the funeral.

Witch.

By dave

Dennis Hopper always danced to beat of his own drum. His wife was fighting him all the way to the end. Kudo's to the old man for fathering a child. He has the money , so why not. There are plenty of poor white trash who breed like rats, and no one seems care about it. Dennis is a creative character and to leave the world a child is gift. I just hope the people fighting over his money , try to remember thats not what Dennis wanted.

By Erin

How can attorney ask for a 7 year old to attend the funeral of her father without her mother. It is difficult to lose a parent at any age, but to be so young and to not have her mother there as her moral support that is truly selfish for any adult to ask a child to endure!!! Just because you want to hurt someone does not make it right to have a little girl miss her father's funeral without her mother. The damage has been done. :(

By cathrine

This little girl was probly closer to her nanny the way celebs and rich raise there children now a days the family probly figured she would feel more at home with her. There is also nothing scary about attending a funeral at that age if I mourned it was by myself in my bedroom while trying to sleep but funerals help because give closure. She should of been allowed to go bottom line with her real caregiver... the nanny.

By barbara

Why shouldn't people over 50 have children? Do you think it would be a different scenario if it was a 30 somthing? I don't think so.

By ms.r

you are correct age does not matter my sis died at 36 yrs leaving 3 teens in the house.never know. my nephew murdered by a crazy drunk left 2 under 4 years old

By Diana

Michael,, You're so very right.

By Eliza

Sounds to me as if the adults on both sides drew lines and refused to act in the best interest of the 7 year old.... I would hope as her father, I'd have relented for the sake of my young daughter. I would hope as her mother, I'd have put her best interest first and made it possible for her to attend her father's funeral, and the same for his family. If that Attorney thought the invitation to the daughter with those conditons was 'reasonalbe' ... he need think again. My best wishes to Mr. Hopper's daughter.

By Dunlop Law Firm

How terribly sad. If we cannot set aside our feelings on an occasion like this, then I suggest to you that there is no hope for the survival of this species -- none whatsoever. May God help us, for we seemingly cannot help ourselves.

By Cara

First, I don't care who it is, a young child should not be present at a funeral. It's traumatizing and tarnishes the last memories of that special person.
Second, what kind of man lets his grown daughter move in with him (and his new wife). Having dealt with stepchildren before, this is the kiss of death. Older stepkids no matter what age are hell on wheels with a parent's significant other. Poor Victoria.

By Dee

You couldn't be more wrong about young children attending funerals. Psychologists agree that teaching children about death is a necessary part of life. I took my son to several visitations, starting when he was 3 or 4 so he could see what they were like. We talked about it. When he was 7, his father was killed in an accident. As hard as it was to go through, it helped him achieve closure to a certain degree. If that had been his first experience with death, it would have been Hell. His cousin, who was close to his uncle, had not attended any kind of service like that and had great difficulty. I have known children who missed the funerals of their grandparents and their parents. They have great difficulty dealing with sadness or unpleasantness of any kind.

By Kelly Moneygrubber

OMG the woman looks exactly like an alien creature with a dress on. Look at that enormous head. I am going to have nightmares all night imagining another snakelike creature will pop out of the stomach or once the lips are parted on that demented smile cobra fangs will emerge. Seriously I AM TERRIFIED FROM THAT PICTURE- PLEASE TAKE IT DOWN- THE GUY ISNT DEAD HE IS HIDING!!!!!!

By jbeuckner

funny as hell....and very smart...i admit it

he is in my basement.

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