THE LAST DAYS OF JOANNE WOODWARD

In a month Joanne Woodward will turn 93, but sadly she is facing her final days. The Alzheimer’s-stricken actress is now deprived of her memories of late husband Paul Newman! “Joanne has been suffering from severe Alzheimer’s and dementia for some time now,” confided a source, “and can no longer remember details of her life with Paul.” A family insider added: “Joanne’s health has deteriorated rapidly. She will occasionally say she used to be married to someone handsome, but that’s it. She doesn’t even re- member the love of her life!” The brilliant actress — who won an Oscar for 1957’s “The Three Faces of Eve” hasn’t gone before the cameras since 2005. And while she managed a public appearance in 2016, insiders report that Joanne first began showing signs of dementia after her husband succumbed to cancer in 2008.

“Their girls saw their mom becoming slightly disoriented,” said the source, “but they chalked it up to her depression after Paul’s death.” But now the disease has progressed to such an extent that Joanne needs round-the-clock care. “She barely speaks anymore, and hardly ever recognizes her own daughters or grandchildren,” said the insider. “It’s heartbreaking to see her this way.”

A friend who lived near the actress in Westport, Conn., said shortly after Paul’s death that “Joanne sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and cries out to Paul.” Now things have progressed to the point where Joanne doesn’t even remember Paul. Fortunately, insiders report that Paul and Joanne’s daughters — Nell, Melissa and Clea — are have stayed close to their mother in her time of need.

Joanne and Paul first met in 1953, when the actor, then 28, was making his Broadway debut in “Picnic.” 22-year-old Joanne was an understudy in the play. She dismissed Paul at the time as “just a pretty face,” but he was knocked out by the gorgeous blonde from Georgia! “She was modern and independent,” Paul said, “whereas I was shy and a bit conservative. It took me a long time to persuade her that I wasn’t as dull as I looked.”

They were reunited in Hollywood four years later on the set of “The Long, Hot Summer,” and their friendship began to blossom into something more — putting an end to Paul’s marriage to Jacqueline Witte. “Paul was torn between his loyalty to his children and honesty with his feelings for Joanne,” recalls a pal. But Paul and Joanne’s chemistry was undeniable — and they launched an affair while filming the drama.

Paul and Joanne wed in Las Vegas on Jan. 29, 1958, and they welcomed Nell, their first child together, the following year. Their enduring marriage was one of the longest and strongest in Hollywood. Joanne’s youngest daughter, Clea, takes pride in remembering that her strong-willed mother was always her husband’s equal: “They really supported one another in whatever the other wanted to do — but, I mean, she could push back!”