Sara and Melissa Talk About...Shocking Celebrity Deaths

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. We are now into our sixth year!

This month, we are talking about celebrities again, but this time about the deaths that shocked us the most. Whose death shocked you the most? Please don't hesitate to share in the comments!

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. :) We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them. 

Sara Steven:

Even without personally knowing a celebrity, their deaths can be shocking. I can think of quite a few times when hearing about a celeb’s death felt like a huge sucker punch right to the gut. I had to pull over when I heard about Aaliyah’s death. Whitney Houston’s announcement gave me chills. And just in the last two days, we heard about the passing of Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Ozzy Osbourne. When I read about their deaths online, I audibly gasped. It was loud enough for my husband to ask me what was wrong. He was shocked, too. 

Courtesy of Rolling Stone

Celebrities become well-known to us. So many of us grew up with Malcolm, Whitney, and Aaliyah. They feel invincible. There are some deaths that, while emotionally painful, might be more expected if the celebrity is much older or fans have been made aware of something like poor health that could be a possible culprit. I had high hopes that Betty White would make it to 100. I figured if anyone could, it would be her. 

The deaths that shock me the most are the ones that are completely unexpected. I remember how devastating it was to learn of Kobe Bryant’s (and his daughter’s) plane crash. And how could Bob Saget not be with us anymore? Phil Hartman’s homicide still does not feel real. And this year, Clueless celebrates its 30th year, but it does not feel complete without Brittany Murphy telling us all to “roll with the homies.”

We miss our focal points. The people who represented a particular era of time that we cherish. People who might have inspired us, like Tupac Shakur, or Robin Williams. Or those who were like father figures for us–it was tough to watch the new Frasier without John Mahoney. Matthew Perry made us all laugh; “Could he BE any funnier?” And Luke Perry made us cry when we learned the world would move on without his presence on this earth.

Courtesy of Vanity Fair

My best friend never seemed to recover after we lost Jonathan Brandis. That hit her hard, when we were teens. I felt that way about River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain. I loved Bill Paxton in Big Love, and Michael Kenneth Williams is still referred to as “Chalky White” in my house, from his Boardwalk Empire days. We even try to mimic his scratchy, cadenced tone when we say his character’s name out loud. 

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. Adrienne Shelly. Prince. Anne Heche. Michelle Trachtenberg. Angus Cloud. And Stephen “Twitch” Boss. They’re added to my list of shocking deaths, because as with the other celebs I’ve included in my post (and I’m sure there are more names that I’m forgetting right now), it hurts to lose the bright spots they’ve left behind. We feel their absence, even if we never personally knew them. 

Courtesy of People

Melissa Amster:

Sara came up with this topic a couple months ago, so the timing is strange for us to share it this week, which was planned, given that Malcolm Jamal-Warner just died in an unexpected way. He was pretty young too. I lost track of him after The Cosby Show, but it sounds like he still had a good acting career and was on a bunch of shows. I'm also scared of drowning so hearing that he died that way is even more unsettling. Anyway, he was not on my Bingo card and I did not expect to see that news this week. And then if that wasn't a kicker enough, I found out yesterday about Ozzy Osbourne. I literally said "holy crap!" when I passed along the news. Celebrity deaths come in threes, so I worry about who could be next...

When I think about the celebrity deaths that shocked me the most, the following come to mind:

Betty White: I know she was old, but she was so, so close to celebrating her 100th birthday that it was a huge shock and disappointment when she passed shortly before that happened. I was hoping she'd be immortal. 

Bob Saget: I felt like his death came out of nowhere and he was still pretty young. At least in today's standards. I had to look up how he died and it says that it was from head trauma. How scary! I was always a Full House fan, so this one was definitely more personal. I also loved his narration on How I Met Your Mother. And I saw him on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperone.

Courtesy of Biography

Matthew Perry: What Friends fan isn't completely floored by the sudden passing of Chandler Bing?!?  

Jill Sobule: This one hurt. She was killed in a house fire a couple months ago. I had just come home from seeing a musical with my kids and saw the news. Jill's album (along with Jewel's) saved my sanity after my first breakup. I still listen to that album and get the songs in my head a lot. And I love her version of "I Kissed a Girl" way more than Katy Perry's. 

Courtesy of Variety

Luke Perry: A Gen X icon who also died way before he should have. I remember he had a stroke and went quickly after that. We weren't prepared at all, the way we were prepared for Shannen Doherty's passing last year. I hadn't been watching Riverdale when Luke died, but I watched a few years later and cried from the episode about Fred Andrews' funeral. 

Weirdly enough, Princess Di: I don't follow the Royal Family and never paid much attention to Princess Di or anything going on in her life. So when my grandma called me over Labor Day weekend in 1997 to tell me that Princess Di had been killed in a car accident, I thought she was making it up. Then I turned on the news. I think just knowing how it happened and how her life ended so quickly was jarring to me. I know what led up to her death and wish she had not had a reason to run from the paparazzi. I just felt bad for her kids, who were so little at the time. 

Robin Williams: He was the last person I expected to take his own life, especially after he always brought joy to people with his comedic acting. It goes to show that you never really know what's going on in someone's life, behind their jokes and grins.

Courtesy of Medium

Gavin Creel: As a Broadway fan, this one really hurts too. I had no idea he was even sick so when someone reported that he passed away, I was like "Wait, what?!?" Gavin was kind hearted and had such great talent and stage presence. I saw him in Into the Woods when it toured a few years ago. I never saw him in Thoroughly Modern Millie, but hearing this song always haunts me.

There are other celebrity deaths that happened over time that I sometimes didn't see coming, like some of the actors from Glee, for example. I also remember how sad it was in the late nineties hearing about Chris Farley and Phil Hartman, iconic SNL comedians. And of course there's Michael Jackson, whose music lives on even sixteen years later. I know there will be others. I just want to wrap some celebrity icons like Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, and Mel Brooks in bubble wrap and keep them immortal. 

I noticed that Sara and I had listed a lot of the same people, but clearly their deaths had made an impact on both of us.

Which celebrity's death has shocked you the most? (You can say more than one if you have a list!)

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