Fatal Coincidences
When famous people die in the same way, it’s hard not to think something strange is going on. Whether collapsing on stage or shot by a spouse, pairs of celebrities losing their lives in an awfully similar fashion is more common than you think.
Whitney Houston And Bobbi Kristina Brown
Our first horrible match involves the similar circumstances in which pop singer Whitney Houston and her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, were discovered.
Ben Hider/Getty ImagesWhitney Houston
Ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the second-greatest singer of all time, Houston last performed in public on February 9, 2012, singing “Jesus Loves Me”. Two days later she was found unconscious in a Los Angeles hotel bathtub.
A coroner’s report revealed the 48-year-old Houston had drowned, with heart disease and her addiction issues contributing to this tragic accident.
PH2 Mark Kettenhofen , Novice7, Wikimedia Commons
Bobbi Kristina Brown
More than just the daughter of celebrities, Bobbi Kristina Brown was on the cusp of developing her own music career—before she was discovered submerged in her Georgia home’s bathtub, Brown spent six months in a coma before she passing at the age of 22 on July 26, 2015.
Officials cited lobar pneumonia as the cause, with the substances in her system when she was discovered cited a as major factor. However, the medical examiner’s office could not determine if it was accidental or intentional.
Prince And Tom Petty
Here we have the sad stories of two musical superstars whose addictions claimed their lives far too soon, in eerily similar ways, in consecutive years.
Prince
Prince's body was discovered at his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, 2016. It was determined the cause was an overdose of fentanyl. He was 57 years old. The music world reeled—but another shocking OD was coming.
Tom Petty
On October 2, 2017, Petty passed in a Santa Monica hospital the day after his wife discovered him unresponsive in their home. The cause was again an accidental overdose of substances, including fentanyl.
Sam Cooke And Marvin Gaye
Two famous soul musicians fatally shot with some controversy over the justice meted out—or not.
Sam Cooke
The “King of Soul” was just 33 when he was shot and killed in the manager’s office of a Los Angeles motel on December 11, 1964. The manager, Bertha Franklin, said Cooke had banged on her door, suspecting she was hiding a woman Cooke had arrived with. Franklin said she shot Cooke in self-defense when he barged in almost totally unclothed.
She was never charged with the shooting, even though friends and supporters of Cooke disagreed with the official explanation.
RCA Victor Records, Wikimedia Commons
Marvin Gaye
Nicknamed the “Prince of Soul,” Gaye was just one day short of his 45th birthday when his father shot him twice on April 1, 1984, at the family home in Los Angeles, as Gaye tried to break up a fight between his parents.
After it was discovered that Gaye’s father had a brain tumor, charges were downgraded from first-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter, and the father received a suspended sentence.
John Lennon And Gianni Versace
Two famous men, a musician and a designer, were killed by an obsessive fan of one sort or other.
John Lennon
While walking towards his New York City apartment building, the Dakota, world-renowned Beatles singer Lennon was shot by a fan he’d signed an album for just hours earlier. Though rushed to hospital, he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards, dying at age 40 on December 8, 1980.
Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons
Gianni Versace
Luxury fashion designer Versace was shot outside his Miami Beach mansion as he returned from eating breakfast and buying an Italian newspaper at a nearby trendy cafe on July 15, 1997. He was 50 years old.
A 27-year-old serial killer had grown obsessed with Versace, and days later would shoot himself, using the same weapon he'd used on his famous target.
Janis Joplin And Amy Winehouse
The passing of Amy Winehouse at age 27 revived interest in “The 27 Club,” which includes Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and other famous musicians who all lost their lives at just 27 years old.
Joplin and Winehouse, in particular, had similar careers—and similar ends.
Getty ImagesJanis Joplin
The body of 27-year-old singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, whose struggles with addictions were well-known, was found on October 4, 1970, in a Los Angeles hotel room. The cause was ruled an accidental overdose.
Grossman Glotzer Management Corporation, Wikimedia Commons
Amy Winehouse
Again, it was a 27-year-old singer-songwriter who we lost, this time Amy Winehouse at her London home on July 23, 2011, the day after she told her doctor, “I don’t want to die”.
Despite speculation about her substance use, two inquests found her demise resulted from excessive alcohol, four times the legal limit if she’d been driving.
John Belushi And Chris Farley
Two 33-year-old comedic actors lost to speedballs.
John Belushi
Sometimes thrown off the set of Saturday Night Live for his addiction-fueled mayhem, Blues Brothers actor Belushi passed in a Los Angeles hotel bungalow on March 5, 1982, at the age of 33.
A Canadian backup singer, Cathy Smith, eventually admitted to injecting Belushi with the speedball.
Chris Farley
Also a Saturday Night Live alumnus, and also 33 at the time of his passing, comedian Farley was found on December 18, 1997, at his Chicago apartment.
An autopsy pointed to the effects of a speedball injection and atherosclerosis, which narrows the arteries.
Brittany Murphy And Corey Haim
We lost both Brittany Murphy and Corey Haim within months of each other, under similar circumstances.
Brittany Murphy
The world lost actress and singer Murphy at age 32 on December 20, 2009, after she’d collapsed in her Los Angeles bathroom. A coroner’s report said the cause was pneumonia, with contributing factors being anemia and a combination of prescription medications.
Corey Haim
Traumatized as a child actor, we lost Haim on March 10, 2010, at the age of 38. It was later revealed the actor, made famous in The Lost Boys, used seven doctors and seven pharmacies to obtain 553 prescription pills in his final 32 days.
Official cause was deemed pneumonia and various heart issues, though California’s Attorney General nonetheless called Haim a “poster child” for the dangers of prescription addiction.
Dream a Little Dream(1989), Vestron Pictures
Anthony Bourdain And Kate Spade
Two personalities very much in the limelight, but who struggled to cope with mental illness.
Anthony Bourdain
Famous chef, author, and TV personality Bourdain ended his life on June 8, 2018, at age 61, in a hotel room in northeastern France. Known for his intense language, Bourdain admitted to substance use in his earlier years, sometimes affecting important decisions, and he is said to have been struggling with depression yet again at the end of his life, but ignoring doctor’s advice.
Kate Spade
Fashion designer and businesswoman Spade ended her life with a red scarf in her Manhattan apartment on June 5, 2018. Spade’s sister said the event was “not unexpected,” but that Spade had resisted seeking treatment as news of it might have affected the Kate Spade corporate brand.
Michael Hutchence And David Carradine
Two internationally known celebrities whose ends left the same questions lingering.
Michael Hutchence
Australian musician and actor Hutchence was found hanging in a hotel room in a Sydney suburb at the age of 37 on November 22, 1997. The coroner’s report indicated that the INXS lead singer's life had ended while depressed and under the influence of a litany of substances.
Two years later, girlfriend Paula Yates suggested Hutchence’s passing might have been misadventure after playing with his own air supply to increase pleasure.
David Carradine
The American actor, director, and producer, famous for starring in Quentin Tarantino’s two Kill Bill films, passed at the age of 72 on June 3, 2009. Carradine’s body was found in a Bangkok hotel room, and Thai authorities suggested much the same cause as Michael Hutchence.
Kung Fu (1972–1975), Warner Bros. Television
Redd Foxx And Tommy Cooper
Dying on stage or nearby isn’t as rare as you might think. Here we look at two comedians who shuffled off this mortal coil on stage, and for much the same reason.
Redd Foxx
A comedian famous for portraying the father in the 1970s TV show Sanford and Son, Foxx collapsed from a heart attack while rehearsing another sitcom, The Royal Family.
Notorious for faking heart attacks as a gag, this time it was all too real, and the 68-year-old Foxx passed hours later in a Los Angeles hospital on October 11, 1991.
Tommy Cooper
A Welsh comedian and magician, Cooper became an international star once he started appearing on television. His last appearance was on Live From Her Majesty’s, broadcast from a London stage on April 15, 1984.
Twelve million viewers saw 63-year-old Cooper fall on his back during a magic trick, with crew confused as to whether this was part of the performance. It was, in fact, a heart attack and Cooper’s final act.
Dorothy Stratten And Phil Hartman
Two troubled marriages, two murder-suicides, two careers tragically cut short. This is the story of a Playmate and a comedic genius, both born in Canada, and both meeting an untimely end in the City of Angels.
Dorothy Stratten
Playmate of the Month for August 1979, 20-year-old Canadian model and actress Stratten was in the process of divorcing her husband and manager Paul Snider. She’d just finished filming the film They All Laughed, during which time she'd begun an affair with director Peter Bogdanovich.
On August 14, 1980, during a meeting at the Los Angeles home she’d shared with Snider just months before, Snider shot both her and himself.
Phil Hartman
Born in Canada, Hartman was a comedic genius famous for many roles, including his work on Saturday Night Live and the voice of Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz, and more on The Simpsons. Divorced twice, he married Brynn Omdahl in 1987, but her addiction issues, combined with his busy schedule, made for a rocky marriage.
This tragically culminate in the early-morning hours of May 28, 1998, when Omdahl shot her husband in his sleep at their LA home, then shot herself. Hartman was 49 years old.
The Last Days of Phil Hartman (2019), ABC News
Heath Ledger And Cory Monteith
These two famous young actors were discovered in eerily similar circumstances.
Heath Ledger
Ledger's housekeeper found his body when he succumbed to an overdose of prescription medication on January 22, 2008 at his Manhattan loft. The Australian actor was only 28 years old, and the world hadn't yet seen his tour-de-force performance in The Dark Knight, released six months later.
Howie, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cory Monteith
The famous Glee actor's body was found by staff in a Vancouver hotel room on July 13, 2013. He was 31. The coroner deemed the cause an overdose from a mix of alcohol and other substances found in his system. Monteith had battled with addiction issues for years, having first entered rehab when he was 19.
Paul Walker And James Dean
The seventh instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise was in production when the world suddenly lost Paul Walker, the star of the franchise—eerily recalling another tragedy nearly 60 years earlier. Both men were Hollywood stars, and both went out going fast.
Paul Walker
A child actor who first made waves in The Young and the Restless, Walker achieved his greatest fame in the Fast & Furious movies. The seventh movie in the franchise was in production when Walker, a racing enthusiast behind the scenes, got in a vehicle with his friend, entrepreneur Roger Rodas.
Rodas, 38, was driving away from a charity event in Santa Clarita, California, when he lost control of his 2005 Porsche Carrera GT at high speed and hit a lamp post. The car burst into flames, and both driver and passenger Walker were burned beyond recognition before authorities got the blaze under control.
James Dean
An avid car racing enthusiast, Dean had finished filming what would be his last film, Giant, and was resuming his racing interests. Driving a brand new 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder from Los Angeles, Dean slammed into a turning car on US Route 466, dying almost instantly with a broken neck.
Passenger Rolf Wütherich, a Porsche mechanic, was thrown from the car and severely injured, but survived. Dean was only 24 when he lost his life on September 30, 1955, near the town of Cholame, California.
Barkin, Herman & Associates-publicity agency for Schlitz Brewing, Wikimedia Commons
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