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I’ve never been one to idolize celebrities. That said, it would be foolish of me to claim they haven’t touched countless lives. So, when they’re gone, it’s no wonder their loss is felt so deeply.
Just last week, I paused mid-scroll during an otherwise mundane social media browse to learn that David Lynch had passed.
It felt strangely personal. His work, creative talent, and unshakable authenticity had always inspired me. He was a dreamer unlike any other, and it saddened me to realize there won’t be any more projects under his name. I’m still thinking about him.
As it happens, Redditors recently reflected on other celebrity deaths that struck a similar chord. Their stories moved us to put together a list of their choices as a tribute. Read them below, and let’s honor their legacies together.
This post may include affiliate links.
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#3
When I was a boy, my dad would vocally discuss how he didn't want me.
Mister Rogers was an adult male who seemed to like me just fine. I would watch his show as a child and my mom say I would *plead* with the television when he started putting on his shoes.
"Stay today! Just this time, please, just stay this time..."
I heard he died at the end of my work day. I couldn't finish my supper, I went into my room, closed my door and cried my eyes out. I was 24. I really, really, really wanted to just tell him thank you.
#4
Princess Diana.
Libstak 10 months ago
Everyone knows where they were when this happened. Dont know anyone who didnt watch the funeral
MalayDragon 10 months ago
*raises hand* Didn't watch the Funeral... Now you know someone who didn't.
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Michael Largey 10 months ago
A royal who actually wanted to do her job and accomplish things for her society.
ManuelQue 10 months ago
I believe she passed much of that on to her sins.
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Christian Golden 10 months ago
Always wear your seat belt. Never race on roads. And don't let a drinker be your chauffeur.
#5
Chadwick Bozeman.
tdrknt1:
Chadwick Bowsman that dude was dying and still visited sick folks in the hospital. He was a good man.
JessieJ&LilyLovebug 10 months ago
Imagining who he could become is heartbreaking. Imagining him fighting largely alone is heartbreaking.
#6
Anton Yelchin. He was an only child, too.
JessieJ&LilyLovebug 10 months ago
This one was hard, not just because of how young he was, but because of how he died...absolutely horrific.
#7
Steve Irwin.
maybeee123_Report:
Steve Irwin could have done some some amazing things in the last 20 years.
His kids are making him proud though.
#9
Grant Imahara.
He was full of life, totally healthy, uplifting, jovial, enthusiastic about science, the exact kind of voice we need in this current time. And he died due to a very sudden brain aneurism. Basically, absolutely nothing you could do to prevent that. It's just a thing that...happens.
A lot of celebrity deaths are tragic and heart-breaking. But Grant's death also felt just straight-up *unfair*.
KahlessAndMolorReport:
Grant Imahara from myth busters was on a date with his fiance when he complained of a headache and then passed out in a restaurant.
Sudden aneurysm at age 49 with virtually no warning.
LuisSD stuff 10 months ago
My best friend as child died of the same thing. He had a terrible headache and just died. My sister told me and I was stunned for days. We both grew up in the 70s which was magical time for kids long before computers and cell phones. I hope to meet him in Heaven and thank him for being my friend.
#10
Betty White dying just 17 days before her one-hundreth birthday was so sad. She was a wonderful person. Her death was sad enough, but seeing that picture of the empty Golden Girls couch that was doing the rounds that day hit me the hardest.
#12
Matthew Perry hit me HARD! My partner is very much like chandler and I am “a Monica.” People compared us all the time. I had JUST finished his memoir, then less than an hour later heard he died. I have never cried over a celebrity death, I’m not really a cryer (control freak) but I came close with him.
#13
John Candy broke my heart.
#15
David Bowie.
The Queen Of France 10 months ago
My favourite image following his passing. https://pin.it/5U8UTPMCU
#16
Phil Hartman.
#18
River Phoenix. He'd be just as big as Joaquin if he didn't die.
#19
Marvin Gaye— getting murdered by your dad during an argument is definitely one for the books.
#22
Jim Henson. Refused to go to a doctor and ended up with Disney running The Muppets.
#23
I’m still sad that Gilda Radner died way too soon.
#24
Bill Paxton. It still hurts to watch Twister.
#26
There are so many, but Otis Redding has to be on the list. He recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" three days before he was killed in a plane accident. It became the first posthumous No. 1 single in the US.
#27
Vic Morrow, on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
He and two child actors were killed by a helicopter blade.
cerinamroth 10 months ago
So that the child actors can also be honoured, their names were Renee Shin-Yi Chen and Myca Dinh Le.
#29
Anthony Bourdain, Prince.
Angela B 10 months ago (edited)
Prince. Broke my heart, still does. As a huge fan (22 albums I have) and his talent, gone. To find the loss was due to over prescription of pain meds absolutely destroyed me. Love or loathe him, his talent and musical abilities were astonishing. "Sometimes it snows in April".
#32
Chris Cornell was a tough one.
LukewarmSoymilk 10 months ago
Chris Cornell *and* Chester Bennington for me. They'd been best friends, and Chester took his own life on Chris' birthday, who had passed away only a few weeks prior. I wonder if that might've been been the tipping point for Chester's ultimate decision. :( Maybe they rest in peace.
#33
Leslie Jordan.
I know, he was already old, but goddamn it was still too soon for him to leave us. He was such a gem of a man, and a truly wonderful actor.
RIP Leslie Jordan, you would have loved Chappell Roan.
#34
For me, out of nowhere - P.S.Hoffman.
#35
Judy Garland's entire life was one big tragedy.
Michael Largey 10 months ago
Hugely influential singer. The young Barbra Streisand worshipped her. Underrated actress.
#36
Norm MacDonald. We should have had many more years of top-tier comedy if it weren't for the cancer that basically no one knew he had already been dealing with for years.
#37
Whitney Houston. Her only daughter died the same way just a few years later.
#38
Aaliyah.
LukewarmSoymilk 10 months ago
Ugh, another one that upsets me because it was entirely preventable. The pilot had warned everyone the plane was overloaded, and Aaliyah hadn't wanted to board the plane in the first place. She was given an "unindentified pill" for her headache - IIRC it was a benzodiazepine - which knocked her out, so they could take off. If she hadn't trusted that person who gave her the pill, she might be alive today.
#39
Layne Staley. Just because it was a couple weeks before he was found and he had another rig in his hand ready to go. His remains weighed less than 100 lbs as well. Sad.
#41
John Lennon was murdered in front of his wife, with his five year old son in the apartment just upstairs. It was just before Christmas, he was about to release a comeback album, and his aunt who raised him found out about it on the news the next morning in England.
#42
Heather O'Rourke is pretty f*****g tragic. Iconic in the Poltergeist films and dies at like age 10 or 12. .
#45
Jayne Mansfield.
There is a reason trucks have that bar at the bottom of the rear, now.
Anton Yelchin, his death sparked a Jeep recall.
The Shark 10 months ago (edited)
I saw photos of Jayne Mansfield's accident on the Frontline doc, America's Dangerous Trucks. Can't help but look across where my head lines up to the underside of a tractor trailer in a sedan... The fatality rate for underride accidents is INSANE, but the Trucking industry's fierce lobbying against regulations for quality standards for "that bar" and requirements for underride guards along the sides of trailers is even worse. Most existing guards fail in a collision under 30mph. Your car goes underneath, and you literally take the back of a semi to the face. Give trucks their space on the road and don't pass on the right... Accidents happen.
#46
Roberto Clemente. Died in a plane crash taking aid supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake.
#47
Anna Nicole Smith always seemed like such a waste to me. She seemed like such a lost soul. Her end always struck me as terribly tragic with her son dying shortly afterwards and both of them leaving behind her baby… celebrity or not this was just such a sad story.
Sarah Suelzle 10 months ago
I agree although I never thought she was a "waste" just lonely and sad. Her son died before her, right in front of her 3 days after her daughter was born. I always felt like she died of a broken heart.....💔❤❤❤
#49
Avicii.
#51
Buddy Holly.
Der Kommissar 10 months ago
Buddy's name comes up a lot. Richie Valens and Big Bopper, not so much. They were also on that plane.
#53
Cameron Boyce.
MaryHadaLittleLamb 10 months ago
This one wrecked me. My daughter loved the show "Jessie," and he was so fun on that. He was taken way too young.
#55
Gotta be Kobe because of everyone else including his daugjter.
What do you think ?
The Doom Song 10 months ago
Chester Bennington for me. I think his death was actually the first celebrity I cried over. RIP Chester
Kendall 10 months ago
Yes! I kept scrolling through these waiting to see his name. One More Light kills me now.
Load More Replies...
James016 10 months ago
That one hit hard. I still watch what I think are his best bits on YouTube. Carrot in the box, R****m of the Year...
Load More Replies...
kathoco 10 months ago
this post has mostly revealed that some people don't understand the meaning of tragic. Betty White's death can hardly be called a tragedy. But I'm sorry you're all sad. The fact some of these aren't tragedies doesn't mean we can't be sad and grieve.
Alex Bailey 10 months ago
That was my thought. Dying at that age is a loss, but not a tragedy.
Load More Replies...
Seán Baron 10 months ago
Victoria Wood for me. For non UK peeps, she was an extremely brilliant t female comedian who pretty much paved the way for female comedians here in the UK, she did stand up tours - in the 70s and 80s when women didn’t do such things. She wrote everything, did stand up, sketch shows, plays, drama, acting, wrote music, did a musical, a sitcom. She also holds the record for the most continuous amount of sold out nights at the Royal Albert Hall (16 nights). She had cancer and no one knew. There was definitely more to come from her and we’ll never see it.
Julie S 10 months ago
My two favourite Victoria Wood sketches, "Barry and Freda" obviously and "Two Soups" which she wrote but wasn't in.
Load More Replies... 
Marnie 10 months ago
Many of you probably don't know him, but the worst one for me was Twitch who took his own life. Stephen "tWitch" Boss was a contestant, then a guest star, and then one of the better judges on So You Think You Can Dance. He then was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as a repeated guest host (and I think he had some other executive involvement). He was also in at least one movie. Extremely likeable guy. Had children. Was married to one of the other contestants from So You Think when he died. I read it in Walgreen's, and had to step out of line. I was honestly upset. Called my son since he's a fan of So You Think also.
Pernille 10 months ago
George Michael was somehow the worst for me, best concerts I've ever been to. Another one was Jeff Porcaro.
Lost Panda 10 months ago
George Carlin or Robin Williams, those were probably the only ones that actually hurt my soul.
Igor914624 10 months ago
Neil Peart. He wrote the soundtrack to my life. Rest in Peace Professor.
Tim Quinlan 10 months ago
Absoeffinlootely! We recently saw Beat with Danny Carey on drums. As we were leaving all I said him and Neil Peart, and about 10 people around us said Amen
Load More Replies...
LilliVB 10 months ago (edited)
Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. The music they couldn't make.
Poppy 10 months ago
Not exactly a celebrity but Sir Terry Pratchett, he passed away the same year my mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Auntriarch 10 months ago
Sorry to hear about your mum, it's a beastly disease, my dad has it.
Load More Replies...
Ozymandias73 10 months ago
Michael Jackson. Say what you will about him, he was and always will be my musical and dancing idol. He made the greatest music and his dancing was phenomeonal. Leonard Nimoy. I grew up watching the original Star Trek shows and the ones that followed. (Even though TNG is my favorite) but Spock was probably my favorite character.
RedMarbles 10 months ago
I know this is mainly about actors, but Alexei Navalny absolutely k*lled me. The good guys lost one of their very best. A true hero. RIP
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 10 months ago
Oh yes. Celebrity would fit him, too, at least over here. Not sure if the US at large ever heard of him, though.
Load More Replies...
Amy Smith 10 months ago
Mine will always be Victoria Wood, Chester Bennington, Christine McVie, Alan Rickman and Dame Maggie Smith. I was remarking not long before she died how she had looked old in films ever since I was a kid in the 90s and how she was not at all like Bruce Forsyth who we all assumed would live forever and then eventually did pass on also at age 89.
GhostlySnail (she/her) 10 months ago
Only time I’ve cried over a celebrity dying </3
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EVERLEIGH 10 months ago
I would add Paul Walker! What a way to have passed away. I was so shocked and couldn't believe it! He would have continued to act and would still be one of my favorite actors of today's day and age.
Don Adams 10 months ago (edited)
John Belushi - so funny, gone so young Thurman Munson - star athlete, brought a plane so he could fly home on off days to be with his family. Crashed practicing touch and go landings and died at 32. News broke on Armed Forces Network in Germany, was like a gut punch. Adding: John Pinette- such a gracious, friendly and genuinely funny man. All three gone way to soon. Edit: spelling and added John Pinette-.
David Muir 10 months ago
Rik Mayall, taken far too early, likely due to the serious quad bike accident he suffered a number of years earlier. Absolute comedy genius with Ade Edmondson and a big presence from being a nipper to adulthood. Am just glad I got to see his Bottom Live (The Big Number 2 Tour and Hooligan Island) specifically stage shows in person!
Anna Drever 10 months ago
Tim Brooke-Taylor. Died in the early days of Covid. Goodie, goodie yum yum. 😞
Any 10 months ago (edited)
Andy Whitfield - I knew him only from his role Spartacus But I loved the first season, he played sooo good! There is such a tragic scene I still have burned in my brain. He was so talented and after I looked for him more also a nice human being, with a s****y, a*s hole sickness (cancer). Never watched Spartacus Season 2 and 3. But inclined to watch Season 1 again....
Kurt Ramsey 10 months ago
Liam McIntyre does the part and Andy justice in Seasons 2 and 3. And hats off to Stars for creating the prequel season while Whitfield was in treatment so they wouldn't have to recast the role. Unfortunately, cancer's a f***ing a**hole.
Load More Replies... 
Joanne Earle 10 months ago
For a Deadhead like me, Jerry Garcia's death absolutely gutted me. I was so distraught my bosses gave me the rest of the week off with pay (I worked for very progressive lawyers in downtown San Francisco). I grieved for months and months. And couldn't bring myself to see any of the new incarnations of the living members. It's not the same w/o Jerry.
Huddo's sister 10 months ago
I don't know what qualifies as a celebrity, but the actor's death that hit me the hardest is probably only familiar to Australians, and even then I'm not sure many would remember him. Mark Priestly, who I was familiar with from the show All Saints, committed suicide in 2008 when he was only 32. He had suffered from depression for a while but it was still unexpected. I often wonder if filming a scene where his character's wife had been murdered earlier that day played into it at all.
The Dave 10 months ago (edited)
Natalie Wood belongs on the list. Murdered by her husband Robert Wagner (who just recently died) likely due to a love triangle with Christopher Walken, who basically heard the murder happen. Edit: yeah, another Dave fact checked me. Honest mistake, I realize Wagner’s not dead yet.
CP 10 months ago
I get it being tough when it happens, but humans die. For me, it seems odd for people to still be lamenting a person's death for weeks unless they were really personally close to you.
Tyranamar Seuss 10 months ago
Yes, there’s some of that too. Still it’s sad when a talented person dies unexpectedly.
Load More Replies...
The Doom Song 10 months ago
Chester Bennington for me. I think his death was actually the first celebrity I cried over. RIP Chester
Kendall 10 months ago
Yes! I kept scrolling through these waiting to see his name. One More Light kills me now.
Load More Replies... James016 10 months ago
That one hit hard. I still watch what I think are his best bits on YouTube. Carrot in the box, R****m of the Year...
Load More Replies... kathoco 10 months ago
this post has mostly revealed that some people don't understand the meaning of tragic. Betty White's death can hardly be called a tragedy. But I'm sorry you're all sad. The fact some of these aren't tragedies doesn't mean we can't be sad and grieve.
Alex Bailey 10 months ago
That was my thought. Dying at that age is a loss, but not a tragedy.
Load More Replies... Seán Baron 10 months ago
Victoria Wood for me. For non UK peeps, she was an extremely brilliant t female comedian who pretty much paved the way for female comedians here in the UK, she did stand up tours - in the 70s and 80s when women didn’t do such things. She wrote everything, did stand up, sketch shows, plays, drama, acting, wrote music, did a musical, a sitcom. She also holds the record for the most continuous amount of sold out nights at the Royal Albert Hall (16 nights). She had cancer and no one knew. There was definitely more to come from her and we’ll never see it.
Julie S 10 months ago
My two favourite Victoria Wood sketches, "Barry and Freda" obviously and "Two Soups" which she wrote but wasn't in.
Load More Replies... Marnie 10 months ago
Many of you probably don't know him, but the worst one for me was Twitch who took his own life. Stephen "tWitch" Boss was a contestant, then a guest star, and then one of the better judges on So You Think You Can Dance. He then was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as a repeated guest host (and I think he had some other executive involvement). He was also in at least one movie. Extremely likeable guy. Had children. Was married to one of the other contestants from So You Think when he died. I read it in Walgreen's, and had to step out of line. I was honestly upset. Called my son since he's a fan of So You Think also.
Pernille 10 months ago
George Michael was somehow the worst for me, best concerts I've ever been to. Another one was Jeff Porcaro.
Lost Panda 10 months ago
George Carlin or Robin Williams, those were probably the only ones that actually hurt my soul.
Igor914624 10 months ago
Neil Peart. He wrote the soundtrack to my life. Rest in Peace Professor.
Tim Quinlan 10 months ago
Absoeffinlootely! We recently saw Beat with Danny Carey on drums. As we were leaving all I said him and Neil Peart, and about 10 people around us said Amen
Load More Replies... LilliVB 10 months ago (edited)
Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. The music they couldn't make.
Poppy 10 months ago
Not exactly a celebrity but Sir Terry Pratchett, he passed away the same year my mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Auntriarch 10 months ago
Sorry to hear about your mum, it's a beastly disease, my dad has it.
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 10 months ago
Michael Jackson. Say what you will about him, he was and always will be my musical and dancing idol. He made the greatest music and his dancing was phenomeonal. Leonard Nimoy. I grew up watching the original Star Trek shows and the ones that followed. (Even though TNG is my favorite) but Spock was probably my favorite character.
RedMarbles 10 months ago
I know this is mainly about actors, but Alexei Navalny absolutely k*lled me. The good guys lost one of their very best. A true hero. RIP
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 10 months ago
Oh yes. Celebrity would fit him, too, at least over here. Not sure if the US at large ever heard of him, though.
Load More Replies... Amy Smith 10 months ago
Mine will always be Victoria Wood, Chester Bennington, Christine McVie, Alan Rickman and Dame Maggie Smith. I was remarking not long before she died how she had looked old in films ever since I was a kid in the 90s and how she was not at all like Bruce Forsyth who we all assumed would live forever and then eventually did pass on also at age 89.
GhostlySnail (she/her) 10 months ago
Only time I’ve cried over a celebrity dying </3
Load More Replies... EVERLEIGH 10 months ago
I would add Paul Walker! What a way to have passed away. I was so shocked and couldn't believe it! He would have continued to act and would still be one of my favorite actors of today's day and age.
Don Adams 10 months ago (edited)
John Belushi - so funny, gone so young Thurman Munson - star athlete, brought a plane so he could fly home on off days to be with his family. Crashed practicing touch and go landings and died at 32. News broke on Armed Forces Network in Germany, was like a gut punch. Adding: John Pinette- such a gracious, friendly and genuinely funny man. All three gone way to soon. Edit: spelling and added John Pinette-.
David Muir 10 months ago
Rik Mayall, taken far too early, likely due to the serious quad bike accident he suffered a number of years earlier. Absolute comedy genius with Ade Edmondson and a big presence from being a nipper to adulthood. Am just glad I got to see his Bottom Live (The Big Number 2 Tour and Hooligan Island) specifically stage shows in person!
Anna Drever 10 months ago
Tim Brooke-Taylor. Died in the early days of Covid. Goodie, goodie yum yum. 😞
Any 10 months ago (edited)
Andy Whitfield - I knew him only from his role Spartacus But I loved the first season, he played sooo good! There is such a tragic scene I still have burned in my brain. He was so talented and after I looked for him more also a nice human being, with a s****y, a*s hole sickness (cancer). Never watched Spartacus Season 2 and 3. But inclined to watch Season 1 again....
Kurt Ramsey 10 months ago
Liam McIntyre does the part and Andy justice in Seasons 2 and 3. And hats off to Stars for creating the prequel season while Whitfield was in treatment so they wouldn't have to recast the role. Unfortunately, cancer's a f***ing a**hole.
Load More Replies... Joanne Earle 10 months ago
For a Deadhead like me, Jerry Garcia's death absolutely gutted me. I was so distraught my bosses gave me the rest of the week off with pay (I worked for very progressive lawyers in downtown San Francisco). I grieved for months and months. And couldn't bring myself to see any of the new incarnations of the living members. It's not the same w/o Jerry.
Huddo's sister 10 months ago
I don't know what qualifies as a celebrity, but the actor's death that hit me the hardest is probably only familiar to Australians, and even then I'm not sure many would remember him. Mark Priestly, who I was familiar with from the show All Saints, committed suicide in 2008 when he was only 32. He had suffered from depression for a while but it was still unexpected. I often wonder if filming a scene where his character's wife had been murdered earlier that day played into it at all.
The Dave 10 months ago (edited)
Natalie Wood belongs on the list. Murdered by her husband Robert Wagner (who just recently died) likely due to a love triangle with Christopher Walken, who basically heard the murder happen. Edit: yeah, another Dave fact checked me. Honest mistake, I realize Wagner’s not dead yet.
CP 10 months ago
I get it being tough when it happens, but humans die. For me, it seems odd for people to still be lamenting a person's death for weeks unless they were really personally close to you.
Tyranamar Seuss 10 months ago
Yes, there’s some of that too. Still it’s sad when a talented person dies unexpectedly.
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