What happened?
Robert Munsch, the iconic Canadian author of Love You Forever and The Paper Bag Princess, has been approved for medical assistance in dying (MAID). The 80-year-old revealed in a New York Times interview that he applied shortly after being diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
“I have to pick the moment when I can still ask for it,” Munsch said. “When I start having real trouble talking and communicating. Then I’ll know.”
Family clarification
After tributes began circulating online, his daughter Julie Munsch posted a statement stressing that her father is not dying immediately.
“My father IS NOT DYING!!!” she wrote on Facebook. She explained that Robert applied for MAID five years ago, and while the approval was confirmed, no date has been set.
Julie said her father remains in good spirits and is doing well, warning fans against misleading clickbait headlines.
Why Munsch chose MAID
Munsch said his decision was influenced by watching his brother endure a slow decline from Lou Gehrig’s disease. “They kept him alive through all these interventions. I thought: Let him die,” he told the Times.
Under Canadian law, patients must actively consent to MAID at the time of their death, though recent revisions allow some exceptions for those at risk of losing decision-making capacity.
A lasting legacy
Munsch has written more than 70 books, selling over 80 million copies worldwide. His stories, often inspired by real children he met during school visits, have been translated into more than 20 languages.
- Love You Forever became Canada’s bestselling children’s book for three years straight and was also an unexpected hit in the United States.
- The Paper Bag Princess remains a feminist classic, still taught in classrooms more than 40 years after its release.
Despite struggles with addiction, a stroke, and now dementia, Munsch has continued to write, with Bounce! (2024) and The Perfect Paper Airplane (to be released this fall) among his latest works.
Honored with the Order of Canada and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, Munsch says storytelling is still with him: “The stories will be the last to go.”
