Patrick Swayze: "I was born to be a dad"

The October 5 issue of Closer magazine features an article titled "The Patrick Swayze Nobody Knew", written by Lisa Chambers. The article is based largely on an interview of Frank Whiteley, identified as "Patrick Swayze's longtime bodyguard and friend".

The article describes Swayze's distress about his inability to be a father. The article includes the following passages:

.... Sadly, they [Patrick and his wife Lisa] didn't have children, even though Patrick once said, "I was born to be a dad." They'd tried, but Lisa mscarried in 1990.

"It broke his heart," Frank says. "He wanted to be a dad more than anything. He had skills, knowledge, kindness and love -- everything a child would want."

Instead, he and Lisa raised Ararbian horses and Rhodesian ridgeback dogs on their ranch. And they both learned to fly small planes.

... in 1994, his older sister Vicky, who suffered from depression, committed suicide with prescription pills. "Her death changed my life," Patrick said. "It was hard not to feel responsible."

He entered rehab [for alcoholism] and cleaned up.

Ten years later [in about 2004] he fell off the wagon. "The alcohol came more from not having a child," Rank insists.

That, combined with a fight he and Lisa had while finishing their film One Last Dance, says Frank, resulted iin a memorable bender until Patrick's brother [Donny] came to his aid. ...

Lisa and Patrick reconciled, and when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 they'd been married 33 years. ...

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Here is a timeline relating Patrick Swayze and his unknown son Jason Whittle.

Late May 1972 -- Patrick Swayze (19 years old) meets Bonnie Kay Whittle (15 years old)

About February 1973 -- Jason Whittle born

August 1987 -- Dirty Dancing released, making Swayze (35 years old) a superstar. Jason is 14 years old

1990 -- Lisa Niemi (34 years old), wife of Swayze (38 years old) has a miscarriage. Jason is 17 years old.

1994 -- Swayze (42 years old) experiences crisis, enters rehab for alcoholism. Jason is 21 years old.

2004 -- Swayze (52 years old) experiences alcoholic relapse. Jason is 31 years old.

2008 -- Swayze (55 years old) is diagnosed with cancer. Jason is 35 years old

2009 -- Swayze (57 years old) dies of cancer. Jason is 36 years old.

2012 -- Bonnie Kay Whittle (56 years old), dying of cancer, perhaps now informs son Jason (39 years old) that Swayze was his father.

What a sad story!

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Below is a list of previous articles about Swayze and the Whittles.

1) Patrick Swayze's Unknown Son.

2) The Whittle Family of Morgan County, Missouri.

3) The 1972 "Disney on Parade" Tour and Patrick Swayze.

4) Patrick Swayze met Bonnie Kay Whittle in April 1972.

5) No More News About Jason Whittle

6) A Comment From the Son of Jason Whittle

You can also click on the Whittle label (tag) in this blog's right margin.