Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa were found dead on their Santa Fe estate in February 2025.

Hantavirus — cause of death for Gene Hackman’s wife — at the center of Dutch cruise outbreak

Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa were found dead on their Santa Fe estate in February 2025.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

EW's editorial guidelines

May 7, 2026 5:08 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa; MV Hondius. Credit:

Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty; AFP via Getty

- Hantavirus, the illness that caused the death of Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa, has caused the death of three passengers on the MV Hondius cruise ship.

- Eight cases have been connected to the outbreak.

- Hantavirus is typically transmitted when exposed to rodent urine, droppings, and saliva, and human-to-human spreading is uncommon but not impossible.

The virus that caused the death of Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa has spread on a cruise ship.

Hantavirus, the rodent-borne virus, has spread on the MV Hondius cruise ship out in the Atlantic Ocean, killing three people (a Dutch couple and a German national). Per the World Health Organization via USA TODAY, eight cases (five confirmed and three suspected) have been connected to the outbreak.

According to the CDC, hantavirus is contracted through "contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. It can also spread through a bite or scratch by a rodent, but this is rare." Hantavirus can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

Though it is rare for hantavirus to spread through human-to-human contact, the WHO suspects that this kind of transmission might have occurred on the cruise ship from very close contact. Per CNN, there are a total of 146 people from 23 different countries aboard the ship.**

Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman in Century City, Calif., in October 1994.

Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe, N.M., home on Feb. 26, 2025. It's likely that they were dead for days. Their bodies were found after a pest control worker reported no one answering the door, alerting a neighborhood security officer. The officer saw the bodies through the window and contact emergency services.

According to the final autopsy report for Hackman and Arakawa, Arakawa's death was attributed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease was listed as the cause of death for the prolific actor, with Alzheimer's disease as a significant contributory factor. The couple likely died days apart.

After the actor and pianist were found dead, evidence of rodents were found on their property, such as rodent feces, a nest, one live rodent, and one dead rodent.**

See photos of Gene Hackman through the years

Nathan Lane recalls Gene Hackman's 'hilarious' ad-libbed flirtation in 'The Birdcage'

The difference between Arakawa's death and the cruise ship outbreak is how the virus was transmitted. There's a chance that the cruise ship passengers were infected by other passengers, while Arakawa was exposed to the virus from rodent droppings at her home.**

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

MV Hondius cruise ship.

The MV Hondius left from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1. The first death from hantavirus occurred on April 11. The ship made a stop in St. Helena on April 24, where dozens of passengers disembarked, along with the dead passenger. Two days later, a second passenger died after flying to South Africa.

On April 27, a passenger was medically evacuated to South Africa while the ship was in Ascension Island. A third passenger died on May 2 onboard the cruise ship. That same day, three people were evacuated from the ship at Praia, Cape Verde. The vessel's next scheduled stop is Tenerife, Canary Islands.**

- Celebrities & Creators

- Celebrity Health

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Celebrity”