Who is Helen Morris Scorsese? Martin Scorsese’s daughter shares footage of mom amid Parkinson’s struggle

As per a recent article by US Weekly, Martin Scorsese's daughter, Francesca Scorsese, recently shared rare footage of her mother, Helen Morris Scorsese, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease.

Francesca Scorsese's mother, Helen Morris, is an accomplished book editor and had worked with Martin's inner circle before joining hands with the director himself. Helen Morris and Martin Scorsese tied the knot in 1999 after four years of dating.

Francesca posted a video of herself and her mother on TikTok on September 2, in which she can be seen helping her mother eat a meal at the dinner table.

“Reminder to tell your parents you love them because one day you will have to take care of them the way they once took care of you. Never take health for granted.” Francesca captioned the video and used hashtags like #parkinsonsawareness and #martinscorsese.

The video shows Francesca putting her mother's ear behind her ear, bringing a drink up to Helen's mouth, and then gently rubbing Morris' arm before feeding food from the plate to her mother. The video ends with Francesca sharing a laugh with her mother.

Helen Morris has accompanied Martin at various public events, including the 2023 red carpet of Martin's movie Killers of the Flower Moon, which was held in France, and the 2024 Golden Globes awards, which were held in January.

At an early age, Francesca was exposed to the world of filmmaking as well, which motivated her to pursue a career in the industry. Francesca graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, just like her father. She made her directorial debut with Fish Out of Water in 2023.

About Helen Morris Scorsese

Helen has been suffering from Parkinson's disease for the last 30 years. The couple originally crossed paths because of Michael Powell in 1995. The late filmmaker was a dear friend of Scorsese’s, and Morris happened to be editing his memoir, Million Dollar Movie.

Martin Scorsese appeared on a SiriusXM podcast titled This Life of Mine with James Corden as he opened up and spoke about his wife's disease.

“I find that her strength is something ... I've never seen such strength like that in a person and such a fortitude and a positive way of approaching life under the worst of circumstances.” Martin said on the podcast.

Helen was born in the year 1947 in New York to Stephen Van Cortlandt Morris and Persis Mason. Her father was a career diplomat for 25 years, and his profession took him to Paris, Brussels, and Rome.

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Helen Morris Scorsese was surrounded by books in her initial years, which shaped her interest in publishing. She was the editor of The Reader’s Catalog, a robust collection of 40,000 of the world’s best books in the year 1989. After that, she moved to Random House for work and handled a number of projects there-including the production of her mother-in-law's cookbook, Italianamerican: The Scorsese Family Cookbook.

Scorsese and Helen Morris share a daughter named Francesca. Scorsese was already a father to Cathy and Domenica Scorsese when he met Morris.

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