Rogen Tells Congress of Family’s Struggle With Alzheimer’s

Seth Rogen opened his testimony to a Senate panel on Wednesday with a quip.

“First I should answer the question that I assume many of you are asking,” said Mr. Rogen, whose many movies include a starring role in the stoner comedy “Pineapple Express.” “Yes, I’m aware this has nothing to do with the legalization of marijuana.”

When the laughter quieted, he got down to business before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, where he testified about the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease on families and the need to raise awareness and financing for treatment. He described his and his wife’s experiences with his mother-in-law, who developed early onset Alzheimer’s.

“I thought it was something that only really, really old people got, and I thought that the way the disease primarily showed itself was in the form of forgotten keys, wearing mismatched shoes and being asked the same question over and over,” he said. “After that, however, is when I saw the real ugly truth of the disease.”

Mr. Rogen’s mother-in-law received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis when she was 55, and five years later she could not feed, dress or go to the bathroom by herself, he said.

He and his wife have been working with the Alzheimer’s Association to help spread awareness about the disease and to raise money for research. The congressional hearing room where Mr. Rogen testified was packed with supporters who wore purple sashes in solidarity with those affected by the disease, which is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, and growing.

Mr. Rogen was not the only celebrity to hit Capitol Hill on Wednesday. As Mr. Rogen spoke, Ben Affleck was a few floors up, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the prospects for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is the founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy group for people in the region.