Following her divorce from Goodrich, deHavilland resumed contact with her sister, coming to her apartment in New York City and spending Christmas together in 1961. The final break between the sisters occurred in 1975 over disagreements over their mother's cancer treatmentdeHavilland wanted to consult other doctors and supported exploratory surgery; Fontaine disagreed. Fontaine later claimed her sister had not notified her of their mother's death while she was touring with a playdeHavilland in fact had sent a telegram, which took two weeks to reach her sister. The sibling feud ended with Fontaine's death on December 15, 2013. The following day, deHavilland released a statement saying she was "shocked and saddened" by the news.