‘The Shield’ Actor Michael Chiklis Recalls Being His Late Mother’s Caregiver

He says ‘preparation and communication’ can make a tough job a little easier

Andre Ellington,

AARP

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Published November 04, 2025

Emmy-winning actor Michael Chiklis, 62, is a seasoned veteran in the entertainment industry, having starred in TV hits like The Shield and The Commish as well as movies such as Fantastic Four. But like many people, the biggest role he took on came with little preparation and few accolades: family caregiving.

Chiklis was a caregiver and health care proxy for his mother, Katie Chiklis, who battled Alzheimer’s until her death in 2019.

According to a joint report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, the number of family caregivers in the U.S. has increased to 63 million Americans — a 45 percent rise, or nearly 20 million more caregivers — over the past decade. Three out of 5 caregivers are women, and 2 out of 5 are men. On average, adult caregivers are 50.6 years old.

When your mom, Katie Chiklis, was first diagnosed, you were in Los Angeles, and she was living in Boston. Throughout that period, you were a long-distance caregiver, correct?

Yeah, I don’t say that I was a caregiver. I was the overseer. I was her health care proxy and power of attorney.…

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My mom was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s in her 60s, and she was a brilliant woman. It was particularly cruel. She was such a cerebral person. [The loss of] her faculties was like ALS is to an athlete: [The illness] takes the thing that is their strongest asset and destroys it.

It was just awful and long because it ravaged her mind quickly. Her body was strong and it lived for a long time. Thirteen years she struggled with this heinous disease.

My heart was broken to see my mother suffer like that.…

I was fortunate. My mother was the oldest of eight, so she had brothers and sisters that I could call, which was interesting because I couldn’t bring her out here to California for that reason. Because they were like, ‘No, we want her here.’ I was the odd man out. I was out here, and no one else was.

I just want to encourage people who are caregivers to care for themselves and to know that they’re not alone. I don’t know precisely what the statistics are, but I know that you look left and right of you, and just about everybody you know is dealing with this to some degree, whether it’s their parents, a sibling, a spouse or someone in their world is requiring care.

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That’s great advice. At AARP, we often hear from caregivers that it’s hard for them to take care of their own health and that being a caregiver is very isolating.

Well, that’s true to a great degree. People who are caregivers are just that, and they find themselves giving, giving and giving, and they put themselves last. If I can give you any advice: Don’t do it. I’m not saying don’t be a caregiver; I’m just saying don’t put yourself last. You can be a much better and more effective caregiver if you take time and provide some care and space for yourself in your own heart.

Take that walk; visit with a friend; take that vacation and go somewhere. Read that book. Plant that garden — all those things that are healing for you [are] important.

I also believe your wife is now caring for her mother. Is that correct?

She’s her health care proxy and power of attorney.

And now her mom is at the ripe old age of 87, and we’ve got her in a phenomenal situation. Part of it is because we got such an education from the situation with my mother, so we were able to navigate the system much more deftly than we did the first time.

From both experiences, what were the biggest surprises for you?

The costs, starting with the malady itself. You hear about Alzheimer’s, but you don’t know about it.… It’s a disease of the mind and it’s memory loss and all that, but you don’t know how it affects the mind. You get an incredible crash course in that and learn what it’s actually doing to the person you love.

Then you start to see it ravage them. You’re heartbroken, but at the same time, you’re trying to deal with the family. You all have questions and they have opinions: ‘She should be here. She should be there.’ And you go, ‘Well, hold on a second. I’m in charge of this,’ but it’s not about a power thing.

From your own experience, what advice can you share with other caregivers or people who are overseeing their loved one’s health while they navigate the emotional and practical demands of the situation?

A little bit of preparation and communication — those are the things that are [going to] make whatever circumstance you face easier to cope with. And again, knowing that as a caregiver, you are not alone.

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