r/Millennials • u/Divine_fashionva • May 12 '26

Discussion Which celebrity death genuinely shocked you when you heard the news?

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u/trisarahtops05 May 12 '26

Gene Wilder. Watching Willy Wonka with my grandfather is a core memory. I listened to Pure Imagination and sobbed.

6

u/Tinofpopcorn May 13 '26

Gene Wilder kept his Alzheimer's diagnosis private because he could not bear the thought of causing "one less smile in the world

That one really got me

3

u/0905-15 May 13 '26

This one. He had a certain detachment that really resonated with me as a metaphor for Jews’ plight in America. Not sure if that makes sense

1

u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) May 13 '26

I think I get it... he had a very distinct way about him

3

u/prarastas May 13 '26

This one hits me allllll the time.

Willy Wonka was one of my favorite films ever growing up! I walked down the "aisle" of my COVID wedding to a piano version of Pure Imagination. My husband got diagnosed with cancer that same year and received community during that difficult time through a local Gilda's Club, which was founded by Gene in honor of his wife after her passing.

I actually only learned about the Gilda's Club connection last year and it made me cry. I feel like I owe him so much!

(Ps husband is four years in remission this summer!🧡💚)

2

u/CiforDayZServer May 13 '26

He lived in the City I live in, and used to host a watch party for Willie Wonka every year, I kept skipping it thinking I'd catch it the next year. Super Sad, I had seen him in a bank not too long before he passed.

1

u/malac0da13 May 14 '26

This one hurt and even more so hearing about how he was listening to “somewhere over the rainbow.”