Death is always a shock. Even when we know its coming, the moment we face it is still surreal. And it is of course natural to mourn the death of a loved one, but often we find ourselves surprised by our reactions over the death of celebrities. Maybe because through their work they've been there for us in the worst of times and the best. And they help measure our own lives and mortality in time.
Redditor u/ClutteredSmoke wanted to discuss our feelings when we hear about the passing of an artist that has left an impression on us by asking..... Which celebrity's death really stunned you?John
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All of the big ones already mentioned here of course - Phil Hartman, Robin Williams... but I rarely see John Ritter in these lists, and that was a huge shocker. He was so young, it was sudden and unexpected, and by all accounts he was a great guy. And he died on his young daughter's birthday.
Farewell Stephen....
There was that one time when a Redditor made a post asking why Stephen Hawking wasn't dead yet and he was reported dead the next morning.
Anthony
Anthony Bourdain.
As a non westerner what I loved about him was his humility, he was never cocky "I can cook your food better than you" or picky "ew look at what these people eat/how they make their food", he was always willing to go to the little places, to eat the street food, to talk to people and in the end he saw all the things that make us human, the shared and universal experience of breaking bread.
It was so sad when I heard the news, every once in a while I see an episode of one of his shows, God bless you Anthony Bourdain.
Far Too Soon
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Heath Ledger.
I just rewatched Knight's Tale. My teenage self loved that movie and him. 10 things I hate about you was my theme movie.
Within a Day
Carrie Fisher and then subsequently her mother. Despite her known battle with addiction, it still took me by surprise.
Died within a day of each other. I can't imagine how Billie Lourd felt when that all went down.
Debbie Reynolds. A beautiful and talented woman in her own right.
And while double checking this to make sure I was spelling her name right. I now know why there haven't been any Halloweentown movies for a few years.
For Anton
Anton Yelchin. I always forget that the universe randomly and unceremoniously snuffed him out.
Same for a lot of the names on this list.
When I heard the news back in 2016 I was just completely at a loss for words. Still don't know why--I wasn't a huge fan or anything, but I was really into the reboot Star Trek series at the time, and the incomprehensible thought that someone I "knew" was dead really messed me up. I watched Star Trek Beyond when it came out later, and at the very end they had the "In Loving Memory of Leonard Nimoy", and then the next words were "For Anton" and I just started crying in the middle of a nearly-empty theater.
Bernie
Scrolled this entire thing, and while I agree with the majority of these I was shocked that no one mentioned Bernie Mac. While Michael Jackson's death hit me hardest, I still vividly remember hearing and not believing that Bernie Mac was dead.
XO Robbie
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Robin William's death hit me pretty hard, he was a legend to me, and all the problems he must have dealt with without anyone to help, it makes me feel guilty and depressed, but i believe that he's happier now and in a much better place, RIP Robbie xx...
Alan
Alan Rickman for me.
This one. It really threw me for a loop because everyone in high school kept saying "I can't believe Snape's actor is dead!" Never having watched Harry Potter, it didn't click until someone explained to me that was Alan Rickman. To me, he was the Sheriff of Nottingham and Hans Gruber, but mostly Elliott Marston. It really made me sad to hear of his passing.
Sweet Girl
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Brittany Murphy.
Her death is so strange, especially since her husband died the same way 6 months later. I don't know if they found a cause for their pneumonia but some have speculated black mold or some other air quality issue with their house.
Jump
Eddie Van Halen.
I was driving home from work that day, had the local afternoon FM sports guy on the radio. This guy is an extremely obnoxious blowhard, but was choking up on live radio as he announced the news of Eddie's passing. He spoke for a few minutes about the man, his music, and his influence on our world over the years. It was very different hearing such sadness and reverence from that host.
Hey Neighbor
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Mr. Rogers.
The only time I've ever cried after the death of a celebrity. I was pumping gas when I heard it over the radio and I just broke down crying.
Only 22
Christina Grimmie, she wasn't the biggest celebrity but at the time I was just getting into her music and listening to her covers on Youtube a lot. I don't watch The Voice but her covers on that show were really great. When I found out she had been shot and killed by a deranged fan it was truly shocking. She was so young, only 22 with her whole life ahead of her. I still can't believe it.
Part of Me
Chris Cornell.
I miss him. He was such a huge part of my angsty teens, he (and Eddie Vedder) got me through some dark times in my life. It was the first celebrity death that truly hurt. Like I lost someone very close to me.
He's Just Gone
Cameron Boyce. I watched him on Disney shows throughout my childhood and knowing that he was fine one minute and dead the next was hard.
Was looking for this comment. Part of why his hit me so hard was his age. I mean he was only a few years older than me, I grew up watching him, and then suddenly he's just.... gone. I had'd kept up with him after I stopped watching Jessie but his death fully made me realize that death can happen to anyone at any age.
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John Candy. I know he was a big guy, but he was also just such a genuine teddybear, and his movies are comedy gold.
Terry
Terry Pratchett. I actually cried at my desk at work that day, I didn't even try to hide it. That one is like a triple whammy for me, because he was my favorite author, he wasn't young but he wasn't super old so I wasn't ready for it yet, and because when I told my dad (who also loved him) he said "He was so young though! He's my age!" And it kind of rattled me to realize that people my dad's age were already dying, because I kind of lowkey thought my dad would outlive everyone and suddenly I had to realize that he wouldn't.
Good Phil
Philip Seymour Hofmann.
Yes! So stunning and upsetting. He was The actor that, no matter what he was in, you knew he would be amazing in it. And he was in the middle of filming the Hunger Games, then just gone. Totally shocking.
When Phillip Seymour Hoffman died I stopped doing dope. His death literally saved my life.
Safe Skiing
Natasha Richardson. My HS science teacher died the same week and in the same way.
Her death is why I started wearing a helmet skiing. I grew up skiing, when people didn't wear helmets, and certainly as an adult felt comfortable in my ability for the runs I would take... but accidents happen and a little plastic & styrofoam can really save your life.
Ditto...
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Patrick Swayze. Really sad to see his body just waste away.
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Curious to hear about some of the more creepy indiscretions people get away with, Redditor Flytechofficial asked:
"What is perfectly legal, but creepy as hell?"
These things that happen in public restrooms can be considered criminal.
Respecting Splash Zones
"Using the urinal next to me when there were plenty of other choices."
Nightmare For The Pee-Shy
"hanging out in a public bathroom timing how long people pee."
Bad Timing
"I swear to God. I did a lot of work in hospitals for a while, big f'king hospitals with tons of bathrooms all over the place. For some God damned reason, regardless of what time or bathroom I selected to take a sh*t in not 30 seconds after I sat down a janitor would knock on the door to clean the bathroom. It's not as if it was one janitor, just some random janitor would inevitably need to clean whatever bathroom I was in as soon as I got comfy. It's like I was being stalked by the janitors."
"So now I'm trying to take a sh*t knowing full well there's somebody out there actively timing how long it takes."
Looky-Loo
"I was drunk in a casino and went to use the washroom. The floors in there were a polished marble or something. Sitting on the toilet, pants down, my stall neighbour made eye contact with me on the reflective floor tile."
The following examples involving minors have no legal repercussions.
Outside Watchers
"Technically, you can stand on the sidewalk and stare into someone's house through a window. It's not illegal as long as you stay off of their property, but it's really freaking creepy."
Keeping Tabs On Someone's Age
"A national newspaper having a countdown for when a child actress becomes 'legal' for sex."
"Answers to questions that will surely come. ....Yes. The Sun (UK). Emma Watson."
– pdirth
The Young Subjects
"When I was a child, we had a creepy horrible neighbor that would harass my family constantly. One of the things he did was stand at the corner of his yard and videotape me playing in a pool with my friends (we were around 8). My parents called the police but were told that it's legal if he's on his property."
These perfectly harmless examples can give you goosebumps.
Macabre
"Hanging your doll collection from the trees in your yard using string made from human hair."
People's Taste
"I believe the act of cannibalism itself is legal so long as you didn't murder anyone to do it. If your homie gives you his arm to gnaw on, it's fair game."
I recently treated myself by going to a movie theater after what seemed like a long hiatus for much of the year.
Streaming blockbuster movies from home, while convenient, has never made as much of an impact when compared to the moviegoing experience.
But after my recent trip to our local AMC, I'm beginning to think watching entertainment from the comfort of my quiet home is a much better option.
I forgot that a good majority of audience members are disrespectful and pretty much ignore all the rules—including no texting or talking during the movie.
The normal volume conversations and the number of lit screens from people's smartphone's in my peripheral vision throughout the movie were huge distractions.
Maybe as I'm getting older, my patience has worn thin, or I happened to have a particularly unpleasant experience. But seriously, how can anyone enjoy going to the movies when people are constantly updating their status inside a darkened auditorium?
It should illegal. Rant over.
I feel like if there is nothing after life, it just invalidates life. But maybe I'm just dramatic. I hope there is peace. Thoughts?
black and white two funerals GIFTogether...
"When we die, the whole world as seen by us, dies together with us."
"Yes it does. As does the entire universe. Only when we are alive can we experience the passage of time. The instant we die the entire universe will experience heat death and cease to be. It my take a million eons but since we can no longer experience time it will be relatively instantaneous."
- OkEbb749
Thanks Alan
"It's one of the great wonders of life: What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. You will find out, among other things, that it will pose the next question to you: What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can't have an experience of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum. ~Alan Watts"
So Romantic...
"When I was much younger, I had a dream where I died. Not a typical dream, not a romanticized dream. It was a dream where I was an archer in a medieval battle. About 5 minutes into the battle, chaos was all around me, and I watched an opposing archer aim and loose an arrow straight into my left eye."
"I remember the sensation of impact, ringing in my ears, and falling to the ground. I remember the warmth of the blood on my face. The feeling of life leaving my body, and the sense of worry evaporating into warmth and peace as the world left behind me."
"I remember waking up shortly after thinking that the feeling and reality of that experience was so vivid and so detailed that it must have been an experience from a previous incarnation hundreds of years ago. From that moment on, I've never feared the actual process of death. I feel like I've experienced it many times before."
Erase
Computer Reaction GIFGiphy"I think one of your best friends delete's your browsing history."
"Take the hard drive out of my computer at home… Put it in the bath… And make sure it's completely wiped. -Tensai Slime"
If you love me... rule number one... HIDE THE EVIDENCE!!! Let that be heard far and wide. And dreams, always so intertwined aren't they?
Before & After
Happy Baby GIFGiphy"Exactly the same as before you were born."
- whumoon
"I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. -Mark Twain"
Moving On...
"We clean the bed and assign it to another patient."
"The REAL reason why nurses are so dark. 90 year old man in hospice got hit by a car on his way to get fitted for his funeral tuxedo, and didn't have a DNR. Kept him alive for four hours, and now it's time to document everything that was done to save his life because there will inevitably be a lawsuit from a family member who has had four years to say goodbye but somehow didn't get to."
Again...
"Play again?
Yes
[No]
I don't know what they mean or how to utilize them. I'm a Buddhist (but a gamer first and foremost) so it's cool you guys made those connections This totally makes up for r/movies continuously banning me."
Oblivion...
"I've answered this one before but here it is again. Either two things happen after you die: you either go somewhere or it's oblivion. If it is oblivion, then we're just going back to the same place before we were born and there's nothing wrong with that. We were there for billions or trillions of years, possibly infinity."
"You lose that concept of time since your brain doesn't work anymore so you don't even know it's over. It's not nothing because nothing would be something and that means that you are aware, which you can not be if you're dead. If we do go somewhere, then that's something no one understands because no one has ever come back to tell us."
"Those stories of people coming back after they "died" and "saw stuff" weren't really dead. Their hearts stopped but their brains were still working. If the Universe continues to recycle itself infinitely, then there's a chance we will be reborn or continuously reborn but have no memory of our previous selves."
- jamoh20
On Holiday
"When I was a kid I drowned while on holiday with my family, a giant fat man jumped in the pool on top of me and no one noticed till I was on the bottom of the pool. I remember the feeling of my lungs being on fire, then shivering then as everything was going dark a strange sense of peace and I was ok with it, No panic or terror then it went black."
"I was resuscitated at the side of the pool a few minutes later. I remember nothing from the black to being "alive" again. I was around 7 when it happened and since then I've been strangely at peace with the fact that one day I will die and slip into the dark void of nothingness. Hope that helps."
Popcorn?
500 days of summer cinema GIFGiphy"You wake up in a chair in a cinema and learn that the other are past lives of you and you're about to watch your next life very soon on the big screen."
The truth is none of us know the truth. We live everyday with the afterlife being a gamble. And that seems like it's going to have to be enough.
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