Author Cheryl Strayed announced that her husband, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, died on Friday. He was 65.
“Brian Lindstrom died this morning the way he lived—with gentleness and courage, grace and gratitude for his beautiful life. Our children, Carver and Bobbi, and I held him as he took his last breath and we will hold him forever in our hearts,” she wrote via Instagram.
The “Wild” author revealed Lindstrom was diagnosed with a “serious, fatal illness” on May 1. In her heartbreaking statement on Friday, she shared that he had lost his battle to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
“What tremendous luck it was to be his partner for more than thirty years. We loved each other and our kids with deep devotion and true delight. He was a stellar husband,” the writer, 57, continued, adding that he was “he most magnificent dad” to their two children: 21-year-old daughter Bobbi and 20 year-old son Carver.
“He was a man whose every word and deed was driven by kindness, compassion, and generosity. He saw the goodness in everyone. He believed that we are all sacred and redeemable.”
Strayed also praised his work as a filmmaker, noting that her late husband told stories “of people who, as he put it, ‘society puts an X through.’”
“He erased that X with his camera and his astonishing heart. He made films about incarcerated moms and their kids, about people with mental illness and substance use disorders, about teens living in homeless shelters, foster care, and detention centers, about people who were at the bottom and trying to climb up.”
But above his impressive career in film, Strayed wrote that Lindstrom’s “greatest legacy” is their two children “who embody everything good and true about their father.”
“Their extraordinary grace, courage, and fortitude during this harrowing time was unfaltering and grounded in the undying love Brian poured into them every day of their lives,” she gushed.
Strayed concluded, “We do not know how we will live without him. We’re utterly bereft. We can only walk this dark path and search for the beauty Brian knew was there. It will be his eternal light that guides us.”
When the “Mind Over Mountain” podcast host first announced Lindstrom’s illness, she asked her followers to hold her family “in your thoughts, prayers, light and love.”
Strayed is the author of “Torch,” “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar” and “Brave Enough.”
Her memoir “Wild” was adapted into a 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon as Strayed.
“Tiny Beautiful Things,” based on her advice column, was adapted into a 2023 Hulu series starring Kathryn Hahn, while “Wild” earned Witherspoon an Academy Award nomination.
Documentarian Lindstrom is known for directing 2013’s “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse” and 2022’s “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill.”
The couple also co-directed the 2019 film “We Are Forbidden.”
They first met in 1995, per a 2022 Facebook post from Strayed.
Vivien Killilea
“Met this beautiful man 27 years ago today — literally half my lifetime ago,” Strayed wrote at the time.
“When I was writing ‘Torch,’ he believed in me more than I believed in myself. He’s always, always, always been there for me, every time I needed him. He encourages me. He believes in me.”
“He’s an amazing person and an amazing filmmaker,” she added.
“Many people ask us if we’re jealous of each other or competitive because we’re both artists. We’re always mystified by that because we support each other in every way.”
