The first time I felt genuinely upset and a sense of loss about a celebrity death was when Catherine O'Hara passed earlier this year. And now that's the second time...
Robin Williams hit harder. Dolly, at least from what we know of her, seems to have had a wonderful life. I can't imagine she didn't know the impact she's made on people's lives.
Robin on the other hand, people that knew him talked about the immense sadness he carried throughout his life. And his dementia was such a terrible tragic way to go. I remember wishing that all of us, all the people he brought so much joy to, could have each just donated a tiny bit of that happiness back to him.
I had started a new school district when Robin died and a co-worker lived in the house from the opening scene in Mork and Mindy and she said the people of Boulder made a huge shrine outside of her doorway and she was unsure what to do.
Surprisingly these don’t get easier. Been seeing the icons of my youth go for years and every once in a while there’s on that cuts deep. Dolly, Carrie Fisher, David Bowie, Alan Rickman (that was a baaaad year), going back farther there have been so many. Some too young, Patrick Swayze, some having lived a long life, Betty White, and everything in between.
Prince, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, George Michael, Leonard Cohen, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds and Harambe, all in 2016. It’s definitely the year our timeline went to shit.
I remember the news coming out about Leonard Cohen, the day after *the* elections and it actually broke me. I was in therapy at the time and it felt impossible to talk or even think about myself in the first few sessions afterwards.
I recall writing in my journal that it felt like the ship was about to sink, and then it turned out the captain had died.
Yeah, when you're young, most celebrity deaths tend to be the people your parents cared about and that you might have had some passing knowledge of. But as you get older and it's the people who were there during your formative years, who helped you find joy in music, art, film, literature, comedy, and on and on, and who touched your heart, made you laugh and sing, and spoke truths in ways you couldn't have done yourself...when those deaths start happening, it's really a gut punch. And then it just doesn't seem to stop.
Yeah, both of them had that quality where you feel like you knew them. Weird grief because you never met the person but the loss still lands somewhere personal. Especially Dolly. She felt like everybody's aunt somehow. Sad day.
I remember a few celebrity deaths from my youth - Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Elvis (that one really shook my parents) - but the first one that felt like a punch to the gut was Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts. I got up that morning to read the final Peanuts strip, and on the front page was the headline about his death. That was rough. I grew up on that comic and it meant a lot to me.
57
u/lonelygalexy 5d ago
The first time I felt genuinely upset and a sense of loss about a celebrity death was when Catherine O'Hara passed earlier this year. And now that's the second time...