“Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington confirmed that his wife of 29 years died in June 2025 after a massive hemorrhagic stroke, keeping the loss out of public view for 16 months before he addressed it in an Instagram post on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. His wife’s full name was Jenisa Marie Garland, the name used in her by-line in several outlets.
“Yes…the rumors are true. My dear wife of 29 years collapsed suddenly on May 31, 2025 and passed away on June 9, 2025. It came as a huge shock to me and our entire family,” Washington wrote. He added in the same post: “She succumbed to a massive hemorrhagic stroke and never recovered.”
One account of the timeline says Garland remained alive for nine days after collapsing before dying June 9, 2025. The Cleveland Clinic describes a hemorrhagic stroke as the rupture and bleeding of a blood vessel in the brain, which keeps the brain from getting the blood and oxygen it needs. That bleeding can damage or kill brain cells, and the strokes require immediate treatment.
Washington said in the post that speculation about his family was what finally pushed him to speak. Her long absence had drawn attention from fans and parts of the press, despite few public appearances.
“I don’t know if this is an appropriate post, because Jenisa Washington was extremely private, but I guess I just have to be reprimanded from her on the other side,” he wrote. He also urged followers to take their own symptoms seriously: “Listen, y’all…some headaches are not just headaches or migraines, they can be much worse and a warning sign. Get a brain scan if you can and take those headaches seriously.”
A Private Marriage of 29 Years
A dinner party in Los Angeles brought the two together in 1995, and they married on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1996. Washington was briefly married and divorced at 21, before meeting Garland in 1995. The couple had three children: Isaiah V, Tyme and Iman.
Garland worked in fashion and later founded the Impact Circle Foundation, a nonprofit that supports underserved families. The cameras that followed her husband rarely caught her, and photographers captured the pair together on only a handful of occasions, among them the Golden Globe Awards in 2007 and a Los Angeles film premiere in 2017. They made their red carpet debut at the ABC TCA party in July 2005 and appeared together at the 2006 American Music Awards in Los Angeles. Published accounts differ on their ages: one says she was 57 and he is 61, while another says she was 56 and he is 63.
Washington told Fox News Digital in 2022: “For me, being married and having children did change a lot of my trajectory. That’s why I didn’t want to get married 25 years ago, but I’m glad I did because the wife and children really make you the best human being that you can be.”
Condolences From Hollywood
The post drew nearly 45,000 reactions, including messages from across the industry. Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis wrote, “So very sorry Isaiah.” Actors Debi Mazar, Tichina Arnold, Michael Beach, Harold Perrineau and LaMonica Garrett sent condolences to Washington and his family, as did singer Nicci Gilbert.
Closing the post, Washington noted that 16 months had passed since his wife’s death and said she left behind three remarkable children to carry on her legacy. A tribute to actor-comedian Reggie McFadden, who died at 57, followed on Monday, Oct. 5, with Washington crediting him as the friend “who introduced me to her in 1995.”
The Role That Made Him Famous
Washington played cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Preston Burke on “Grey’s Anatomy,” a medical drama starring Ellen Pompeo that premiered in 2005. Cristina Yang, played by Sandra Oh, shared an on-screen romance with his character that became one of the show’s signature pairings. A heated on-set argument with co-star Patrick Dempsey, during which he used a homophobic slur aimed at T.R. Knight, who played George O’Malley, led ABC to fire him in 2007. He returned to the series in 2014, appearing in the 10th season to close out Yang’s storyline.
Washington said in 2013 that he was “shunned” after losing the role, and said of the forced break in his career: “I became a better husband, a better father and a better artist.”
He starred in the science-fiction series “The 100,” run dated 2014–2020, and appeared in nine episodes of the drama “P-Valley.” His other television credits include “Bionic Woman,” “The Cleaner,” “Law & Order: Los Angeles” and “Survivor’s Remorse,” and his film credits include “Blackbird,” “Dead Trigger,” “Cut Throat City” and the Brazil-U.S. co-production “Área Q.” He announced his retirement from acting in 2023 before appearing in multiple movies.
