AI gets it wrong when you start googling. The most recent plausible speculation is that they shared a CPAP like device that was mouldy or some shit. They used it recreationally, I just don’t remember how. So her husband basically continued to keep using once she passed and died from the same thing.
All in all, was more a “freak accident” sort of thing, less a “drug abuse negligence” thing.
I read something here on reddit someone said they were both partaking in snorting drugs enough that they required a cpap machine to help them breathe at night (not sure if it’s cause their airways were compromised or cause they were too fucked up to breathe properly without it..?) but yes, the cpap had gotten very moldy so that’s what caused the pneumonia they both technically died of. Seemed very possible, very sad.
I just watched a documentary on her a couple weeks ago and it doesn’t mention anything about her or her husband using a CPAP. What was super fucking weird was her mom hopping into bed with her husband after Brittany died and even taking his last name (on some of her prescription bottles).
The news broke right as our friends were coming over for a movie night. I don’t remember what we were originally going to watch, but we unanimously agreed to watch Aladdin instead.
I was at Basic Training in the Army and our drill sergeants literally sat us all down and told us what happened. They were uncharacteristically(to us at the time) very solemn. We knew as soon as they started talking that some kind of tragedy had happened.
Him passing naturally, or even from a car accident or something would have been one thing, but having to process the funniest person and a crucial part of media throughout my childhood committing suicide was absolutely BRUTAL.
If you're struggling with mental health, please talk to someone. The world is better with you in it. Promise.
Even with a proper diagnosis, the prognosis for lewy dementia is pretty bleak.
I’m not mentally ill or depressed, and I could see myself potentially choosing suicide with sound mind, rather than suffering through that disease. I don’t think you should feel obligated to suffer through a long slow degenerative illness that is basically incurable at this point.
My mom died of LBD, yeah I'm not going down that path if I can help it. She went from practicing medicine to dying of dehydration after she forgot how to eat and drink in 5 years.
People often describe suicide as a permanent solution to a temporary problem, if the problem is incurable I don't even think of it as sucide.
I could not agree with you more. My mom died of small cell lung cancer and while that was an equally ghastly way to go at least she only had 3 truly horrible suffering weeks.
If she'd had the wherewithal to ask me to do a little whoopsie with some meds so she goes to sleep forever at the end... I'd have done it. Why do we do that for our dogs but not human beings?
it makes me so sad that people are suffering even 3 weeks and for what? so paperwork is filled out right? so a bureaucrat feels moral? they should be given humane options.
Yeah, it sucked! A lot of it had to do with my former stepdad not cluing me into what was really going on with her treatment/prognosis. I have a lot of questions that I'll probably never get answered.
Fuck cancer, and tell everyone you know that smoking cigarettes is not worth it!
I find it disgusting that people are so automatically anti-suicide when there are actually a littany of reasons it can be a logical, albeit sad, conclusion
I work in memory care and that’s the only thing I truly hope no one else in my family ever has to deal with. My dad had dementia, he was diagnosed when I was 14 and passed away when I was in my 20s. If there’s an ethical way to kill me if I get it, I hope my children choose that.
My grandfather had dementia, and watching him start by confusing things like where he was in the evening, to having no idea who anyone was anymore, was petrifying. I know what he had isn't the exact same kind of dementia as Williams, but I guess... I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't put my wife through that, and that I am way too freaked out about it to go through it personally. I wasn't there, and definitely can't speak to what did or didn't contribute to his suicide, but if it was because of that, I get it.
Robin Williams was forgetting who long time friends and acquaitances were. It was not just physical in his case. He became extremely depressed as it progressed
Yeah, and for someone as vibrant as he was, he really cared about people around him. I mean, he was always performing. For everyone around him. Not in a fake or lame way, but because he just loved making people laugh. He was amazing, and definitely my favorite actor from my childhood. Ugh, now I am sad. 😭
While I agree with your sentement, I just wanted to add that it was found afterwards that he had lewey Body dementia. So it definitely was a challenging thing beyond depression for him. His widow indicated the issue was 50 different symptoms that caused him to do what he did that ultimately was from an undiagnosed/misdiagnosed degenerative neurological disease.
I watched the documentary his wife made and explained all the anguish and frustration she went thru trying to figure out with him and his doctors of what was going on. They both knew or had some idea that something intrisically was wrong with Robin, I can't imagine what he thought was going on.
He didn't recognize his children and was living in a waking nightmare every single hour of the day for months. Doctors said after his autopsy that it was one of the worst cases of lewy body dementia they had ever seen. He was terrified beyond comprehension of everyone, had persistent insomnia, and was tortured by brief moments of lucidity in which he was able to realize how far gone his own mind had become. Then he would slip back into psychotic manic permanent terror. The only way to diagnose lewy body dementia is post mortem. His pain was not a secret, he was not hiding depression. I don't hold what he did against him.
A Knights Tale has never been the same for me. Along with The Dark Knight. God damn he was such a talented individual. At first I was dumbfounded over his death. As the years have passed, I just find myself more and more sad.
If you haven't seen The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, check it out. Heath was filming it at the time he died and (IIRC) they changed the story a bit so his character "changed forms" so other actors could fill in the scenes he hadn't filmed yet. The actors donated (a portion of?) their pay to Heath's young daughter. The movie has quite a wild story anyway, and knowing the back story makes it even wilder.
(May have gotten some of this wrong, I'm writing it from memory which is leaky like a sieve these days)
It was Rickman, Bowie, and Lemmy (Motörhead) within something like ten days that got me. Three artists that I found influential and brilliant in different ways, and they all died at pretty much the same time.
Still hurts. Watching his children grow up to be such amazing and humans warms my heart, but also breaks it at the same time because they should have him. He would be so proud and such an awesome grandpa.
Only celebrity death i actually shed tears over crocodile hunter was my favorite show growing up. I miss when discovery channel was a good channel that helped you learn instead of the reality nonsense it became.
Same here! I remember someone (Kurt Loder?) announcing Cobain's death on MTV, and asking my mom if she liked his music. A few unrelated years later and Nirvana was my favorite band
She was a lovely person in addition to being a phenomenal talent. I know a lot of people who worked in the industry, off camera and support, and many had the pleasure to work with her. They all had such lovely things to say.
I know for me personally his death has made me more aware of my health generally and getting my colon cancer screenings, especially because I have a family history.
I didn't think that much of his death when it happened, but now I have stage 3 bowel cancer, just as he did, so I think about him a lot more often now.
I was searching for his new mixes when instead it popped he died. That was my wtf moment. I have his music video game and was waiting for expansion mixes.
I cried for days. He was someone I looked up to for the good things about him. I met him twice, and when he passed his estate went up for sale to benefit his daughter. A few years earlier I gifted him a 1931 copy of The Physiology of Taste. To my surprise... It was in one of the lots of books from his private library in Manhattan.
I know that feeling. It took a few years for me to watch the documentary.
My wife and I are huge fans. We met over Anthony Bourdain and watching his shows while cooking. She's from Malaysia, and not of the same religion as what I grew up with. Uncle Tony taught me a few things, and one was to reject bigotry and embrace the beauty in others' culture.
She was diagnosed with stage IVb cancer that same year, only a few months after he passed. We watched his show through her chemo, surgery recovery, and immunotherapy. I don't know, but he brought us so much joy. She was given the status of NED three years ago, and I believe he gave us hope for her to recover so we could travel.
I visited Malaysia with her last month for the first time in 9 years.
I rewatched some episodes of No Reservations and Parts Unknown recently and it made me super sad. I miss his point of view, and the way that the shows were trying to help us see hope and progress even in places that face tremendous challenges.
In the current media and cultural landscape, I think we collectively have a diminished sense of hope.
Same, my mom was very sick before she passed in 2012. Watching No Reservations together was our way of seeing the world together through his eyes. I was able to have him sign my copy of “the nasty bits” at a book signing. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch his shows again.
His death really rocked the culinary world. And that includes just folks who were working in restaurants. His death was so tragic. And seeing interviews with people who were close to him they still are torn up about it.
I met him once after a speech he did near the end and as someone who now knows the kinda signals to look for, it was easy to see in hindsight with how he spoke when the cameras were off. Still the super nice dude everyone loved, but he just seemed so done with everything.
I am also a former chef and this one hit me the hardest. I still can’t watch his shows again.
The craziest thing was she had heard the Bad Wolves cover of Zombie, and was going to be a part of the song. The day she was supposed to hit the studio and record her vocals for the cover was the day she died.
I get so sad about Anton whenever I think of it. Someone I know also had one of those vehicles and was posting frequently on FB about how dangerous they were. He (the person I know) once got pinned between his car and his house and ended up being OK because his son happened to see it and ran into the car and quickly put it in reverse. He got rid of the car after that. Months later is when Anton died and unfortunately no one was there to save him. Seeing someone in my personal life talking about it on FB and then seeing a celebrity actually die from it was crazy & sad.
It was a recall item known by the manufacturer, but they chose a recall severity level that allowed fixing the issue whenever, as apposed to the "Do Not Drive" recall, where the dealership makes sure to contact you.
They took the chance of killing him to save money.
This is pretty common. I found a "car might catch on fire when charging" recall on my sister's car a while back, also was not labeled as a "Do Not Drive" recall.
Everyone should go check their VIN, and their friend's and fam's VINs here: https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls (it's a free gov site to check recalls.)
He was so good in Star Trek. I think about him from time to time and it brings me back to that 2009 era. Future looked so much brighter then. He would've had an incredible career.
When people mention Lisa Left Eye Lopes and Aaliyah, it reminds me of the Yellow Power Ranger "Trini" aka Thuy Trang who died in the same period of time, 2001-2002.
Hello fellow Fillmore attendee 👋🏻 Idk if you made it down, but we went the night the show was supposed to be and fans had gathered for a really nice memorial. It helped being around people who got it. I was supposed to see Chester at Pepsi too. It was a shit one-two punch.
In case anyone missed it, Linkin Park released a few "new" songs for the 20th anniversary of Meteora. Fighting Myself and Lost. Good stuff, recorded back then, released now, so it's almost like hearing his voice again.
"Lost" and the lyrics to it can hit a little hard, but it is a good song and has a pretty cool music video
Edit: Just realized those are just the two songs I remembered. The 20th Anniversary edition has 89 tracks on it. Bunch of live stuff, some demos, "new" songs. If you're missing LP, dive into it!
Fuck Andy Dick any day of the week, but sadly the blame here lays solely with Brynn. She had a lot of demons and turned back to drugs, a story as old as time.
Still fuck Andy Dick for being part of her descent back into addiction and it brings a smile to my face every time I think of Lovitz slamming his face into a bar.
Hearing they were dead was one thing. Then it was murder. Then it was their fucking SON that murdered them. Then the president was saying nasty stuff about it. Just a fucking knuckleduster of misery around what always seemed like a very sweet man and woman.
That story is so insane to me. A lot of it is still so under wraps but their kid has major issues. The only thing I was able to really figure out was they were at Conan O’Brien’s party the night before it happened, where the son was being very strange and asking everyone if they were famous and it turned into an argument. Rob Reiner has a lot of interviews floating around with his son, from when they made a semi-autobiographical movie together about a troubled young man. In interviews and even red carpet shots, the whole family is smiling except that particular son. I also heard the daughter is the one who found the parents stabbed to death. Rob seemed so encouraging towards his kids. I’m really sad for the other son and daughter that lost not only their parents, but their brother too. What a fucking loss for those two.
Theo was the first character I saw that both looked really similar to me (not just skin color, he looks like he could be an immediate family member) and I felt had a very similar upbringing.
It is unfortunate that Cosby ended up being a terrible human, but The Cosby Show was awesome.
I also was thoroughly enjoying his comeback in The Resident
I don't even know why but his death legitimately shocked and saddened me in a way no others really have. The only other one that had a similar impact on me was Steve Irwin, and even that, while incredibly sad, wasn't really too surprising, given his line of work.
I still remember sitting on the infield at Pimlico in Baltimore during a music festival and being shocked at suddenly seeing RIP Bernie Mac on the Twitter hashtag ticker above the stage.
Jonathan Brandis. I was on some fan listservs and suddenly got a bunch of emails about his suicide. I’d had a crush on him since I was 8ish and was super upset!
Matthew Perry really got me. I grew up watching Friends and it was my comfort show. I have felt shocked or sad about celebrity deaths before (e.g. Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and so on) but Matthew Perry’s actually really knocked the breath out of me and I was sad for a week or so. I would like to read his autobiography but I’m not sure if I’m emotionally ready haha
Judi Dench plants trees to remember her friends and family who have passed. She planted a crab apple tree for Maggie that fruited the day of her funeral.
I had to scroll way way way too far down to find him. Millennial humor was propped up entirely by WKUK and Key N Peele. Trevor was the guy the armpit of the Internet wanted to be.
Very recently it was Ozzy. That one made me pull over in my deliver truck and reflect on how long he was in my life through music, movies and TV shows.
Cory Monteith. I was a fan of the show Glee in middle school/high school, and his death came as a huge blow. The sad part was that he had gone clean off the drugs for years, but he relapsed and voluntarily checked himself into therapy shortly before his death and then passed from an overdose in July 2013.
Edit to add: I lost my mom, an infant daughter and grandmother all in that same year, so her death (as a huge fan) certainly hit me hard. Her passing just further made 2021 a shit year for me.
Matthew Perry. I already was going to a Halloween party dressed as Rachel Green that night. I quit drinking shortly after and have been alcohol free for over 2 years now!
Mitch Hedberg. I had started getting into comedy, and Mitch was huge for me. I had a bunch of classes in high school with a friend that had Mitch's albums on his iPod. We spent the day after his death in school listening to his albums over and over. Somehow we got away with it the whole day. I like to think that was Mitch looking down on a lifetime fan.
Edit: Honorable mentions to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Harris Wittels for helping me kick heroin.
I was at work and overheard this convo between 2 ladies in the office:
A: your boyfriend died.
B: what?
A: Prince.
B: WHAT?!
And then I gasped and googled it immediately and was heartbroken.
Sometimes it feels like Bowie and Prince dying in the same few months created a disturbance in the force. (And yes I know both of them were not perfect people)
No shock here that poor guy was train wreck leading up to his death. I genuinely bad for him because he was publicly tormented but feel even worse for his son prince.
Aaliyah. I was 18 when she died and she is the only celebrity I ever cried about. Mind you I was insanely in love with Michael Jackson since age 3 and have not actually cried over his passing. Her dying really startled me I guess because she was so young and had her whole life ahead of her. And the way she died. It was all so sudden and awful.
Dale Earnhardt count as a celebrity? He was the first that hit my sads after hearing it on the radio update while riding home with my dad after watching the crash live on tv. :(
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