Buzz Aldrin suing children for claiming he has dementia, misuse of finances

Buzz Aldrin is suing two of his children and a former business manager. The second man to walk on the moon has accused them of slandering him by claiming he has dementia, as well as misusing his finances.

Aldrin filed his lawsuit a week after his children Andrew and Janice filed a petition claiming Aldrin was suffering from memory loss and confusion. According to them, the American astronaut’s new friends were trying to alienate him from his family. These new friends had allegedly been spending his assets at “an alarming rate.” Aldrin’s children wanted the court to name them his legal guardian.

In his own lawsuit, Aldrin, 88, claims his son and former manager Christina Korp had improperly taken control of his finances “for their own self-dealing and enrichment.” The pair had allegedly been slandering him for years by claiming he suffers from dementia and has Alzheimer’s disease. They also apparently undermined his “personal romantic relationships” by forbidding him to get married.

He claims his son exploited the elderly by “knowingly and through deception or intimidation” depriving him of his property. He also accuses his daughter of fraud and of not acting in his financial interest, BBC reports.

Aldrin underwent his own evaluation by a geriatric psychiatrist in April. He scored “superior to normal” for his age on tests. Court-appointed mental health experts are also scheduled to evaluate him in Florida this week.

His children said they were saddened by their father’s lawsuit against them. “If nothing else, our family is resilient and our ability to work together to solve problems and accomplish great things is strong,” they said in a statement. “We love and respect our father very much and remain hopeful that we can rise above this situation and recover the strong relationship that built this foundation in the first place.”

Aldrin has three children with his first wife, Joan Archer. His eldest son, James, is not involved in the lawsuit. Aldrin was married three times. His second was to Beverly Van Zile, and his third was to Lois Driggs Connon.

Aldrin landed on the moon on July 21, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission. He and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two humans to walk on the surface of the moon.