Ted Turner,  CNN Founder, Battling Brain Disease

The cable news network founder Ted Turner, in a yet-to-be-aired interview with CBS,  revealed that he was suffering from a brain disease known as Lewy body dementia.

“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that. But not nearly as bad. Alzheimer’s is fatal,” Turner told CBS. “Thank goodness I don’t have that. But, I also have got, let’s – the one that’s – I can’t remember the name of it,” he paused. “Dementia. I can’t remember what my disease is.”

He further revealed that he was misdiagnosed with manic depression before learning that he has the brain disorder which is a type of progressive dementia that leads to a decline in thinking, reasoning and independent function, due to abnormal microscopic deposits that cause brain cell damage over time.

Turner who is 79 year-old changed the landscape of television news with the creation of the 24-hour Cable News Network (CNN) in 1980. He was formerly married to actress Jane Fonda for 10 years, until their divorce in 2001. Forbes estimated his net worth to be  $2.2 billion.