Former Soap Star And Star Trek Alum Suffering From Dementia

Star Trek icon and former The Young and the Restless (YR) star Nichelle Nichols has been diagnosed with dementia, and it’s sadly progressing.

The news was first reported by TMZ, which gave details about what’s happening with the beloved star.

TMZ accessed documents filed in the actress’s conservatorship in which her doctor said that she was suffering from “moderate progressive dementia.”

The doctor went into detail about how Nichols has progressed, listing “major impairment of her short-term memory and moderate impairment of understanding abstract concepts, sense of time, place and immediate recall.”

The documents also said that there’s good news since there appears to be no apparent impairment with her long-term memory, her comprehension, or verbal communication, and she’s able to recognize people she’s familiar with. Not only that, she still has the ability to reason and plan actions.

Her son recently took action to ensure she isn’t taken advantage of by others around her.

The actress played a pivotal role in 2016 on The Young and the Restless where she shared scenes with Kristoff St. John’s Neil as his long-lost mother.

Those scenes were incredible and added a needed layer to his character, of finally able to make peace with his mother.

But it was her breakout role os Uhura on the iconic series Star Trek back in 1966 that endeared the actress to millions of people… especially Whoopi Goldberg, who has listed the actress as one of her biggest inspirations.

It was seeing Nichols on TV at age 9 — not playing a maid — that made her realize she could be anything she wanted.

The actress was also part of primetime’s first interracial kiss when her character kissed William Shatner’s, Captain Kirk. It was just one of the many groundbreaking moments in this legendary actress’s incredible life.

Soap Hub’s thoughts are with Nichelle Nichols during this time.