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)

Tuesday 08 June

By Kelly Moneygrubber

Vote down Vote up Report this

Actor Val Kilmer looks bloated- he needs a salad. He was once a good looking guy. I thought only the women lost their appeal.

Monday 07 June

By Snuffy

Christ you know it ain't easy.

By Mei

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Anyone here get the point that a father has died and left a small child behind and she did not get to go to the funeral to say her goodbyes? I doubt it as for the most part I have read mean nasty childish posts slamming her dead father.

By Janice

It is always the children that suffer. This mother will regret her choice when her little girl is grown. I am divorced and encourage my (now adult) children to stay in touch with their dad. Our problems were just that, "ours", not our childrens.

By ADALITA

I just can not think of why can not this little one not be able to say good bye, it is knowed that her mom was not happy about the two of them ,the man is gone now! Just let it go ,he still was her dad!

By LIVE FREE

Dennis Hopper is forever gone. Let's all have and show a little respect for one of the best that Hollywood was privleged to have.
Nuff said.

Saturday 12 June

By Barbara

His wife looks like something out of a Steven King Movie . What was He Thinlking to marry That one?The little Girl is cute I really hope She will be okay. What I see More is That They were Both being vindictive and petty. Why should it matter if She came with Her daughter to the wake or services? He wasnt There. Why put a 7 yea old through that kind of truma?She needs both of Her parents.It never ceases to amaze Me the lenghts people will go to to get even with, Thier ex partners , not considering the Children But only thinking of Themselves and Thier own feelings . This Is Why this whole country is so bad Everyone is out for Themselves, She for The money Him to get even with not one thought for That child and What She might have been going through, selfishness. on both sides, probably the reason the marriage didnt work out We cant all be takers and not give anything back . People Are hard hearted nowdays It is sickl

By jeff

i agree , so unbelievably ugly ....AND no tits .

By Kath

You talk about putting pettiness aside since Dennis Hopper is gone. His children would not let his WIFE attend who had been with him since she was 23 or so and for FOURTEEN YEARS!!! He did not even start divorce proceedings until he was terminal and his grown children didn't want her inheriting half of his millions.

I lost all respect for Dennis Hopper. And I won't even say what I think of his children. But for them to deny the mother of his young child to attend the funeral?? I wouldn't have let my child go to a funeral at such a young age without me either. And CERTAINLY not in light of the way that I had been treated by his family!!

I can only hope that Victoria Hopper still inherits 1/2 of this clown's estate!

By Ann

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

The most sad part of this is that a little girl wasn't allowed to say goodbye to her Dad at his funeral. One would hope that for the sake of this little girl, that bitter fueds would be put aside - and that they'd do what was best for Galen. It's sad that they couldn't rise above it for her sake.

By minnie

You can't say "goodbye" to the dead. They are already DEAD. I wouldn't have allowed my seven year old to attend a funeral either, especially without me.

By d

Dennis' daughter not be able to attend his funeral was a horrible thing for the 'people involved' to create.

You reap what you sow and they will get theirs someday!

By Victor

People suck!

By Zero

Old dead celebrities make way for new ones !
Now buy my album, ... I need a mansion,...

By Pamela

I think that child will grow up remembering what her Mother did by not letting her go to her Dad's funeral and will not forget that. What a mean thing for this woman to do to a child. Victoria fights with Hopper is hers, not his child and the child should of been allowed to go. Maybe in seeing this - some older men will get smart and not marrying younger woman and start marrying a woman their own age - not just look for a trophy wife with a beauful body.

By threefromil

They managed to find the worst picture of a pretty woman, makes her look bad. Surely not by accident.

I've seen people prey on family members without all their faculties like this, and disinherit their spouse and children. It's rare for someone that is ill to divorce a spouse in an 18 year marriage when they are terminal. Sounds like the older daughter had an ax to grind.

By Jeffrey Muse Sr

Sue, don't listen to these sorry souls. Judy you put it so
eloquently that I agree with you 100%. Griff you hit the nail on the
head. These people are all living in wonderland. If you have a child
after you're age is 50 you have wealth as far as money goes, you have
plenty of self-centered attitude and all about yourselfness, but
you're lacking brains and wisdom. it's simple arithmetic people if you have a child after your 50th birthday you will be 67 when the child graduates from high school. You will be over seventy when the person graduates from college. Any questions?

By Dee

There isn't an expiration date on love. If you are a good person and interested in raising a child, then go for it. My grandfather lived to be 93, so he could have had a child at 50, witnessed his/her HS graduation, college graduation, marriage, birth of children and perhaps grandchildren. My ex husband had a child at 21 and another at 27. He was killed at age 36. He missed the graduation of his daughter this year even though he would have been only 39 had he live. Raising children isn't always mathematical.

By howardfrankfort

Women must punish someone.

By Sarge

Sue may be right to a point, as in selfishness.If your making kids at 67 years of age. That baby is going to grow up with at least on parent missing. And if your blessed to be alive, how much energy you have to spend with the kid. Any young woman that let a man impregnate her at this age, have other motives.

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