When celebrities with a special place in our hearts have their lives unexpectedly cut short, the grief we feel can often take us by surprise.
Liam Payne
Liam Payne, a former member of boyband One Direction, has died after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, according to police there. He was 31 years old.
Payne’s death occurred at a hotel on Costa Rica Street in the Palermo neighborhood, according to a statement from police provided to CNN.
The musician was best known as a member of the famed British boyband One Direction.
The band, which also included Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, first formed in 2010 after each member appeared on the UK version of reality competition show “The X Factor.”
Amy Winehouse
Amy died in 2011 at age 27 of accidental alcohol poisoning.
The British singer lived with addiction and mental health issues for much of her life.
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur’s life was sadly cut short after he was shot four times on September 7, 1996, following a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Six days later, on September 13, he died of internal bleeding.
Heath Ledger
When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a “pretty boy” and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword.
The Brokeback Mountain star was found dead on January 22, 2008 in his apartment in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo, with a bottle of prescription sleeping pills near-by.
It was concluded weeks later that he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs that included pain-killers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. His death occurred during editing of The Dark Knight (2008) and in the midst of filming his last role as Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
Posthumously, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I’m Not There (2007), which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan’s life and persona.
A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his performance as the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight (2008). His untimely death cast a somber shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $185 million Batman production.
Ledger received more than thirty posthumous accolades for his critically acclaimed performance as the Joker, the psychopathic clown prince of crime, in the film, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards (for which he is the second actor to win an acting award posthumously after Peter Finch who won an Oscar for Network (Best Actor 1977)), the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Princess Diana
Princess Diana’s 1997 death is almost as storied as the royal’s life: At age 36, she was with her alleged boyfriend Dodi Fayed, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, and driver Henri Paul driving through Paris and trying to get away from the paparazzi when the car crashed, killing all but Rees-Jones.
Fayed and Paul were pronounced dead at the scene, while Diana was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead a few hours later.
She was survived by her two sons, Prince William, who was then 15 years old, and Prince Harry, who was 12.
Chadwick Boseman
He passed away in 2020 at the age of 43 from colon cancer.
At the time of his death, Chadwick had just completed several big projects, like Da 5 Bloods and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, with the latter earning him a posthumous Oscar nomination.
After the historic success of Black Panther, Chadwick was also slated to begin production on Black Panther 2.
He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side.
James Dean
Dean died in a car crash in Sept. 1955 when he was only 24 years old. Earlier that same year, James starred in East of Eden, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Following his death, Rebel Without a Cause was released, which became his most celebrated role.
He became the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and remains the only actor to have had two posthumous acting nominations. Actor James Dean is seen in a scene from the 1956 movie, “Giant.”
Selena Quintanilla-pérez
Pérez was killed on March 31, 1995 outside a motel in Texas when she was only 23 years old. The year before her death, Selena won her first Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Album for Selena and her posthumous album Dreaming of You debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, making Selena the first Latin solo artist to do so.
At the time of her death, media reported that many radio stations took calls from “distraught listeners” throughout the day, and they played Selena’s music. It was also reported that “hundreds of fans” gathered at the gas station across from the motel and played recordings of Selena’s songs, too.
River Phoenix
Phoenix died in 1993 at the age of 23.
Prior to his death, he starred in movies like Stand by Me, Running on Empty, My Own Private Idaho, and more.
Running on Empty earned him an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In his obituary in the New York Times, the publication wrote that Hollywood was stunned because “the 23-year-old actor was one of the most gifted of his generation.
Mr. Phoenix was viewed by studio executives and producers as one of the most talented young actors in Hollywood, a performer whose skill and professionalism impressed colleagues.
Brittany Murphy
The actress died in December 2009 at the age of 32, with the cause of death still under debate.
She was in numerous movies, including Girl, Interrupted, 8 Mile, and Sin City, and did a lot of voice work, including in the Fox series King of the Hill.
Britney was mostly praised for her acting prowess.
Marilyn Monroe
Monroe was married three times, rumored to have had numerous affairs and made as much as 30 films. The final years of Monroe’s life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for unreliability and being difficult to work with.
The final years of Monroe’s life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for unreliability and being difficult to work with.
The circumstances of her death, from an overdose of barbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture. The circumstances of her death, from an overdose of barbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture.
Though officially classified as a ‘probable suicide’, the possibilities of an accidental overdose or a homicide have not been ruled out. She died at the age of 36.
Matthew Perry
In October 2023, Perry passed away at age 54 following an apparent drowning. He was found dead in a jacuzzi by law enforcement.
Paul Walker
The “Fast & Furious” star died in a car crash north of Los Angeles. He was 40.
Walker’s life was cut tragically short in November 2013. While going for a drive with friend and business advisor Roger Rodas after a charity event, the car collided with a pole, engulfing the car in flames and killing both Walker and Rodas, who was behind the wheel.
Kurt Cobain
The singer ushered in the ‘Grunge’ scene in the early ’90s with Nirvana.
Fame was never his intention, and it seemed to add to his suffering, brought on by depression, chronic bronchitis and heroin addiction.
He died at 27 of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
He is survived by wife Courtney Love and their daughter, Francis Bean.
Kobe Bryant
The former L.A. Lakers player died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. He was 41.
The 18-time NBA All-Star was traveling with eight other people on his private helicopter when a fire reportedly broke out on board. Witnesses reported the helicopter going down quickly and then slamming into the ground, Fire Capt. Tony Imbrenda told KTLA.
Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was also killed in the crash.
Whitney Houston
Grammy-winning, iconic pop diva Whitney Houston was found dead in the bathtub in February 2012 at the age of 48.
The vocal legend drowned after a drug overdose at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Aaliyah
The Grammy-nominated R&B singer died in a plane crash in the Bahamas in August 2001.
The 22-year-old had numerous hit songs to her name and was due to costar in the sequel to The Matrix.
Notorious B.i.g.
The rapper worked with artists including Sean Combs, Lil’ Kim, Faith Evans, and Jay Z. He was shot dead following the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards.
He was just 24.
Bruce Lee
The actor and martial arts superstar is shown in a scene from the 1973 film, “Enter the Dragon,” completed shortly before the martial arts stars’ death of brain edema in 1973.
Sadly, his son, Brandon Lee, would also die young. Brandon was only 28 at the time of his accidental shooting while on a movie set.
Jimi Hendrix
Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as ‘arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.’
Although the details of Hendrix’s last day and death are widely disputed, he spent much of September 17, 1970, in London with Monika Dannemann, the only witness to his final hours.
Lisa “left Eye” Lopes
Lopes was the ‘L’ in the Grammy-winning R&B trio TLC. She died at the age of 30 in a car accident in Honduras in 2002, where she was on a spiritual retreat.
Peaches Geldof
TV personality Peaches Geldof died in April 2014 at the age of 25. The daughter of world-famous musician Bob Geldof left behind her husband Thomas Cohen and two children after overdosing on heroin.
David Strickland
The 29-year-old actor — with roles in the sitcom Suddenly Susan and the 1999 romantic comedy Forces of Nature — committed suicide in a Las Vegas motel room in March 1999. The previous year he was arrested for cocaine possession and was ordered to enter rehab.
Prince
He released 39 studio albums and won seven Grammys and an Academy Award, and was known for hits including “Purple Rain,” “Kiss,” “Little Red Corvette” and “When Doves Cry,” among many others — died at his Paisley Park residence in Minnesota on April 21, 2016, at 57.
While his autopsy results have yet to be released, Prince was found with prescription painkillers in his possession at the time of his death.
The DEA and U.S. Attorney’s Office joined the ongoing investigation into his death, and investigators are looking into whether a doctor was prescribing drugs to him prior to his death, and are considering a possible overdose.
Michael Jackson
The King of Pop died suddenly at the age of 50 after suffering a cardiac arrest in June 2009.
His death, however, was ruled a homicide. His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is the target of a manslaughter investigation for giving the singer — who was known for his ever-changing appearance, odd relationships and the drug Propofol on several occasions.
Fans placed flowers and notes on Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the day of his death.
Angus Cloud
The Euphoria actor died in July 2023 at age 25. Cloud’s passing came one week after he buried his father. “It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today.
As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways,” the actor’s family said in a statement at the time.
“Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend.”
Cloud’s loved ones added: “Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence. We hope the world remembers him for his humor, laughter and love for everyone. We ask for privacy at this time as we are still processing this devastating loss.”
Dustin Diamond
The Saved by the Bell alum died at the age of 44 in February 2021, just three weeks after being diagnosed with stage IV small cell carcinoma.
“In that time, it managed to spread rapidly throughout his system; the only mercy it exhibited was its sharp and swift execution,” his rep said in a statement to Us. “Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful.”
Patrick Swayze
In the late 1980s, he was already a star on the fame of “Dirty Dancing”.
He passed away due to pancreatic cancer in 2009.
Patrick was only 57 at the time of his death.
Prior to his death, he was known to be healthy and energetic.
His death shocked his fans and near ones.
Naya Rivera
Another tragic Glee cast member death was the 2020 loss of Naya Riveria, who played Santana on the popular show.
She was 33 when she drowned while saving her 4-year-old son’s life while the two were boating on a lake in California.
In a weird twist, her body was found on the seven-year anniversary of costar Cory Monteith’s death.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department announced on July 13 that they recovered her body following an extensive search and recovery effort.
Mac Miller
Rapper and former boyfriend of Ariana Grande, was only 26 when he died.
He was nominated after his death for a Grammy for his final album.
Mac had publicly struggled with mental health and addiction issues for most of his adult life and sadly died of an overdose of a combination of drugs.
Cameron Boyce
The Grown Ups actor’s family confirmed his death at age 20 in July 2019. “It is with a profoundly heavy heart that we report that this morning we lost Cameron. He passed away in his sleep due to a seizure which was a result of an ongoing medical condition for which he was being treated,” a statement read at the time.
“The world is now undoubtedly without one of its brightest lights, but his spirit will live on through the kindness and compassion of all who knew and loved him.”
Jacky Oh
Jacky Oh, the former star of Wild ‘N Out, died at age 32. A BET Media Group spokesperson confirmed her death to PEOPLE in June.
Heather Armstrong
Blogger Heather B. Armstrong, known as “Dooce,” died at the age of 47.
Her boyfriend Pete Ashdown told media that Armstrong died by suicide after a recent relapse following 18 months of sobriety.
