section_path: Illness and death
section_name: Illness and death
paragraph_text: Illness and death
  
  In August 2024, Lynch said in an interview that he had been diagnosed with emphysema in 2020 after a lifetime of smoking and had become housebound due to health risks, which he surmised would likely prevent him from directing any new projects. Three months later, he told People that he had quit smoking in 2022, having started when he was eight years old; he said he was reliant on supplemental oxygen for most daily activities and could "hardly walk across a room".
  
  Lynch also said he could no longer leave his house, meaning that he would only be able to direct remotely. He said a project for Netflix, with working titles Wisteria and Unrecorded Night, had fallen through, but that he would like to see his unrealized projects Antelope Don't Run No More and Snootworld realized. Lynch said that month that he was working on existing projects as much as he could, and that he was in good health except for emphysema, and had no plans to retire.
  
  In January 2025, Lynch was evacuated from his Los Angeles home due to the Southern California wildfires. These events preceded a terminal decline in his health, and he died at his daughter's home in Los Angeles on the morning of January 16, aged 78. His family posted a message reading:
  
  There's a big hole in the world now that he's no longer with us. But, as he would say, "Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole."
  
  His death certificate, publicly reported in February 2025, concluded that the immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cited as the underlying cause. Dehydration was also mentioned as a significant contributor. The death certificate said he was cremated, with his ashes buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
  
  In August 2024, Lynch said in an interview that he had been diagnosed with emphysema in 2020 after a lifetime of smoking and had become housebound due to health risks, which he surmised would likely prevent him from directing any new projects. Three months later, he told People that he had quit smoking in 2022, having started when he was eight years old; he said he was reliant on supplemental oxygen for most daily activities and could "hardly walk across a room".
  
  Lynch also said he could no longer leave his house, meaning that he would only be able to direct remotely. He said a project for Netflix, with working titles Wisteria and Unrecorded Night, had fallen through, but that he would like to see his unrealized projects Antelope Don't Run No More and Snootworld realized. Lynch said that month that he was working on existing projects as much as he could, and that he was in good health except for emphysema, and had no plans to retire.
  
  In January 2025, Lynch was evacuated from his Los Angeles home due to the Southern California wildfires. These events preceded a terminal decline in his health, and he died at his daughter's home in Los Angeles on the morning of January 16, aged 78. His family posted a message reading:
  
  There's a big hole in the world now that he's no longer with us. But, as he would say, "Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole."
  
  His death certificate, publicly reported in February 2025, concluded that the immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cited as the underlying cause. Dehydration was also mentioned as a significant contributor. The death certificate said he was cremated, with his ashes buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.