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For Sale Mar 30, 2026 at 8:05 AM

A question about the movie Forest Gump.

Posted by Nice-Penalty-8881

Forest Gump's mother said his father was on vacation. When Forest asks what that means, she says it means when you go somewhere and don't ever come back. So, do you think he died or he abandoned his family? Is it possible she was not married at all? The reason I wonder this is the house was said to be in her family for a long time, and it was called Gump House. Also, >!do you think Jenny died of AIDS?!<
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Pristine_Message_181 Mar 30, 2026 +1
She died of either hepatitis B or C in the novel, but the novel was different from the movie that who really knows? And Daddy Gump left the family because he didn't want a kid with an intellectual disability. 
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aseedandco Mar 30, 2026 +1
He left. In the book, Jenny had hepatitis
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Ozyman_Dias Mar 30, 2026 +1
His dad died by being crushed by a falling crate of bananas.
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BadBlood_1989 Mar 30, 2026 +1
The book isn't the movie though. She died of AIDS in the movie which was confirmed by Forest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth in 2019.
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Historical-Life-4787 Mar 30, 2026 +1
Honestly, I mean.. it depends on if you’re basing your question off of the movie adaption or the original book version. Because there are very distinct differences to quite a few plot points in the book version versus the movie version that don’t necessarily change the way that the story ends up entirely but does shift certain things slightly. I personally love BOTH the movie & the book, and the subtle differences in the way the characters exit Forrest’s life honestly don’t change the way I feel about the brilliance of the story as a whole. If you’ve never read the book, I highly recommend you give it a read and then see if it changes your mind any about your original question, OP! 🫶🏼☺️
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BadBlood_1989 Mar 30, 2026 +1
Jenny 100% died from AIDS. In an interview in 2019 Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth confirmed that the illness Jenny died from was late-stage HIV. The actress that played Jenny has also mentioned it in the last couple years. So mystery solved with that topic.
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lizwearsjeans Mar 30, 2026 +1
I believe Gump House was a boarding house, the reason why Elvis stayed there and other guests.
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Deadpoolgoesboop Mar 30, 2026 +1
My theory is Forrest’s dad abandoned his family, possibly because Forrest was mentally challenged, and Jenny 100% died of AIDS.
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piercedmfootonaspike Mar 30, 2026 +1
>Jenny 100% died of AIDS. It was hepatitis in the book, and the movie left it ambiguous, so I don't know what makes you say it was 100% AIDS. It's just speculation.
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Nice-Penalty-8881 Mar 30, 2026 +1
When I watched the movie for the first time years ago (the 1990's), when she said it was a virus and the doctors didn't know what it was and there was nothing they could do about it. Given that the time period was the early 1980's. AIDS was the first thing that came to mind for me.
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lPHOENIXZEROl Mar 30, 2026 +1
A lot of people don't realize that Hepatitis C wasn't officially identified until 1989 (which help develop the method to screen for it) as it had been spreading among intravenous drug users going back to at least the mid-70s. I didn't until years after the movie and thought AIDS too, but Hep C killed her in the book but IIRC the script writer also had HIV/AIDS in mind but I could be misremembing. AIDS makes a bit more sense since before the official identification Hepatitis C was considered a non-A or B form of it so they kinda knew what it was, just not the ability to properly identify it.
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BadBlood_1989 Mar 30, 2026 +1
It was AIDS. The screen writer Eric Roth confirmed it a few years ago.
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BadBlood_1989 Mar 30, 2026 +1
She 100% dies from AIDS. In 2019, Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth confirmed that the illness Jenny died from was late-stage HIV. The actress that plays Jenny has also mentioned it in the last couple years.
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InteractionKitchen12 Mar 30, 2026 +1
His dad was dead. Yes she died of HIV.
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novemberchild71 Mar 30, 2026 +1
So I am the only one thinking that, while the movie insinuates she might be dying of AIDS, what Jenny really was dying of was a broken heart that even Forrest couldn't fix? Good to know...
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BadBlood_1989 Mar 30, 2026 +1
She definitely died from AIDS. That was confirmed in 2019 by Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth.
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novemberchild71 Mar 30, 2026 +1
Hold your horses. That only proves that the screenwriter let her die of AIDS in the screenplay (different from hepatitis in the novel). I stand by my assessment. What people seem to forget, is Jenny's childhood. What kind of life would Jenny have led if her heart (or her spirit if you prefer) had not been torturously broken?
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CochinitoTatemado Mar 30, 2026 +1
I always assumed his dad had abandoned them when he realized Forrest was a little slow. In the book he gets crushed to death by bananas. Jenny definitely died of aids.
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