Katharine Hepburn wants to set the record straight — she may be 92 and living in seclusion, but she’s still in good spirits.
In a rare interview, the feisty Hollywood legend shot down rumors that she is bedridden.
“Tell everybody I am doing fine!” Hepburn told The Post as she sat in the comfortable living room of her rustic seaside home in Old Saybrook, Conn.
“I am OK.”
Dressed in a purple jumpsuit, the four-time Oscar winner rested on a large settee in front of a roaring fire and a picture window with a sweeping view of Long Island Sound.
The legendary star has spent all her time in this quaint home since moving out of her posh Midtown townhouse in the mid-1990s.
And while she occasionally invites an old friend or a neighbor over for afternoon tea, Hepburn’s reclusive lifestyle has fueled speculation she’s seriously ill.
But, although Parkinson’s disease has limited her mobility and her speech, Hepburn insists that all the chatter could not be further from the truth.
The actress confessed that she’s still a big eater — enjoying homemade meals prepared by her cook.
Her best friend, actor Max Showalter, recently told The Post his famed friend sits down to four square meals a day and “eats like a horse” — a fact Hepburn confirmed with a broad grin.
“Oh, yes, that’s true,” she admitted, as her cook, Maureen, stood by and nodded in agreement.
Hepburn’s mood turned dark as she asked about Showalter, who has been gravely ill with cancer at Essex Meadows Hospital in nearby Essex, Conn.
The actor, who played Marilyn Monroe’s lover in 1953’s “Niagara,” has been Hepburn’s closest confidant since the death of her longtime love, Spencer Tracy.
She nodded with approval when told that Showalter is hanging in there.
Neighbors say Hepburn — who delighted audiences in classics such as “The Philadelphia Story,” “Adam’s Rib” and “The African Queen” — still ventures outside when the weather permits.
“Miss Hepburn has good days and bad days, like most of us,” said friend and neighbor Henry Josten, first selectman of Old Saybrook.
First published by Ward Morehouse III in the NY Post on March 10, 2000.Tags: Katherine Hepburn