Has the news of famous persons death ever made you cry even though you never met them, or a stranger that you knew about but never met? Why did it make you cry?
Without knowing a celebrity personally, you can still resonate deeply with what their art or identity stand for. I shed a tear when David Bowie died because his fearlessness and experimentation was like a beacon to weirdos like me that told us we would be ok if we left the shores of conformity. Plus, he was the funky funky groovy man, man.
We are exposed to enough of their life and personality that we form a bond.
With a performer like Bowie, he pushed the boundaries of what it even means to have a personality. You almost have to talk about him by each era—Ziggy Stardust, The White Duke, etc. That baffling reinvention is part of his allure and his message, in my opinion. You can make yourself into anyone you want to be, even just for a little while, and that experience can be magnificent. You aren’t just the sum of your experiences, you are also the product of your intention, so why not get a little freaky-deeky with it, man?
Anthony Bourdain hit me pretty hard. I was a huge fan starting with Kitchen Confidential and ate up basically everything he produced. But more than just his content, which was great, his worldview and philosophy really spoke to me. It was cynical and angry, without being aimless or shallow. He seemed to be doing something different from everyone else and writing his own rules in a way which had no parallels anywhere in mainstream media.
Celebrities, no. Pets, definitely.
Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys was one, and David Lynch very recently was another. Both hit really hard :-(
When I was about 17 was looking at several full pages of names of people who died in 9/11 when looking at a news paper and started crying
I cry sometimes when I see what is happening to the people and babies of the world
I cried when those women in Sudan were at a hospital and rebels showed up to rape and murder them then trapped them inside the clinic and burned it down
The world is a sad place with so much need for mourning
Chester Bennington of Linkin Park low-key destroyed me. I didn’t even hear about it when it happened due to a big storm taking out my power for a week. It wasn’t until 4 or 5 days after the news hit everyone else when I finally found out.
You can say whatever you want about Linkin Park, but Chester was fucking talented and its still so upsetting to me to think about it.
And then last year, they made Chester die again when they brought on a Scientologist to be the new lead singer. Now Linkin Park as a whole is dead to me.
I really like their new singer and album. And Up From the Bottom was on repeat for a good month.
I wept a bit for Stephen Hawking. He was a rare, special human. When I read what was written on his grave, there next to Newton and Darwin: “Here lies what was mortal of Stephen Hawking 1942 - 2018” I wept a bit. Still do. Did a bit more just now writing that to be honest.
I was pretty fuckin sad when Judy Tenuta passed.
Gord Downey of the Tragically Hip.
His music was songs of more than one generation of Canadians. I caught the last few songs of the live streamed final concert. I almost missed it because I was on graveyard shift and slept through an alarm.
I caught my favorite song “Ahead by a Century” and since he passed, I haven’t been able to listen to that song again. When it comes on the radio I either turn it off or leave the room. It is too sad to hear. It has been harder in the last two years because my sister died of the same brain cancer as him. She played music with a few Canadian bands but never met them.
❤️
Almost cried about Dame Maggie Smith. She just seemed like such a stellar person, I really feel like she added value to our society
Adding value seems to a rare trait these days
Did not cry exactly but… if you are like me and you like Babylon 5, do not check up on the cast.
You’re very accustomed to your world and don’t want any discontinuity. Change is depressing because it reveals the impermanence of everything where rather pretend like it isn’t. Thats my reason :)
Attachment?
Fairly early on in the COVID days, it got Adam Schlesinger. To this day, it’s the one celebrity death that felt personal to me.
For those who don’t recognize the name, Adam was one half of the songwriting duo in Fountains of Wayne. Who you know best, of course, for “Stacy’s Mom.” God, their songwriting was sublime though. And then Adam did “That Thing You Do”, Ivy, Tinted Windows, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and a ton of other stuff.
Maybe it’s partly the collective trauma of the pandemic, but his death still hurts.
I mourned, legitimately mourned Terry Pratchett’s death. I don’t even have a parasocial relationship with him in the sense you get with streamers and YouTubers and whatnot. He was just a man who brought wonderful ideas into the world, who focused my understanding of life and so much more, and to hear of his end hurt me bitterly.
For me it was when Steve Irwin died.
It was a shock, but at the same time it gave so much credit to all the other things he did. Never faked it, was most joyous in the face of death over and over again.
Agree with all you said. His life was joyous and I think the legacy lives on with how wholesome his family is even now. :)
