Being a celebrity can be hard, being a mother can be hard. Everything in life comes with it’s rewards and challenges. The death of anyone is never easy, whether it be a 98-year old woman or a 30-year old man, it will always have an emotional impact on the loved ones around them. There does seem to be an extra ounce of tragedy when someone dies well before their time.
This happens a lot, probably a lot more than we know. What we do know, is that this happens to celebrities. We know this because their private life is a public life, and the media is quick to report any deaths in the land of Hollywood. They are also quick to report if a death was suspicious or if drugs/alcohol were involved.
Celebrities live in a different world, one that we may never understand. The use of recreational drugs, or even just a fast and furious lifestyle is common. These can sometimes take their lives, and often too soon. We don’t often think of their loved ones that are left behind, unless they were mothers of course. We always hear how tragic their death is because they are leaving behind a child (or children) who will now grow up without a mother figure.
We have found 15 celebrities who not only lost their lives too you, but that left behind distraught children and families.
15 Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith was a very well-known and controversial model and actress. Smith started her career modelling for playboy, and then went on to model for some pretty big fashion names. Smith wanted to branch out into the television world, but she never made great success. She was permanently labelled as a ‘ditzy, blonde girl’ when all she wanted was to be taken seriously.
Smith was a mother to a son and a daughter. Her son, passed away at the age of 20 on September 10th, 1996, and as expected Smith was devastated. There are rumours that at the funeral of her son, Smith tried to climb in the casket with him. She persevered and lived through her baby girl. Sadly, Smith was a mom who would lose her life too soon. On February 8th, 2007, Smith was found dead in a hotel room. Her death was ruled an accidental overdoes.
14 Whitney Houston
This woman is a legend! She needs hardly any introduction, and the world was shocked at the news of her untimely passing. We all know Houston for her powerful singing voice, and we all start singing whenever we hear ‘I will always love you.’ Houston was not without her controversy too, it seems no one can escape it in Hollywood. Houston fell in love and married Bobbi Brown, a R&B singer with numerous run-ins with the law. The pair had one child together, Bobbi Kristina.
February 11th, 2012 is a day that will live in infamy, it is the day that it was announced to the world that Houston was gone. She was found in a hotel room bathtub. She had accidentally drowned in the bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors. She was only 48. To make things even more tragic, her only daughter lost her life shortly following her mother.
13 Judy Garland
Judy Garland is a Hollywood classic. She is probably best known for her iconic role as Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz. She will probably forever be known as the girl in the ruby slippers. Garland was married multiple times, and produced three children. One of them being the famous Liza Minnelli.
On June 22nd, 1969, when she was just 47 years old Garland was found dead in the bathroom of their rented house in London. An autopsy was ordered to try and determine the cause of death. The coroner, Gavin Thurston, stated that the cause of death was “an incautious self-overdosage” or barbiturates. There was never any indication of foul play or suicide, and that this was just a tragic accident. They even went to find that the drug had been ingested over a period of time, and not in one sitting.
12 Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood was not as much a household name as some of the others on this list. She was an American film and television actress. Probably most known for her roles in Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story. She started her career at a young age, and then went on to be quite successful. She had received three Academy Award nominations before she was even 25.
She took a break from acting and went on to have two children with different husbands. One of her children is the actress Natasha Gregson Wagner. Her death was a tragic accident. During the making of the film Brainstorm, Wood drowned while on a weekend boat trip. It was never discovered how she ended up in the water. The autopsy report claimed that Wood had bruises on her body and arms and a small cut on her left cheek. It is unsure if this indicated foul play, or if it was caused by striking rocks in the water. Wood was only 43 at the time of her death.
11 Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly is the perfect picture of the word Grace. She was a very well known actress and began her career in 1950. Kelly was a part of more than 40 episodes of live drama productions before she went on to star in many movies. If it didn’t seem like Kelly had it all already, she decided to give up acting at the age of 26 to marry a prince. That’s right, Kelly married Rainier the Prince of Monaco. She immediately picked up princess duties and had three children; Caroline, Albert II and Stephanie.
On September 14th, 1982 at the age of 52, Kelly suffered a massive stroke while driving her car. This caused her car to crash, and she lost her life the next day. Her daughter was in the car with her, and tried to maintain control of the car, but she was unable to. Her death was caused by irreparable brain damage. Prince Rainier had to make the difficult decision to take his wife off of life support.
10 Jackie Kennedy Onassis
Jackie Kennedy was the wife of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. She was a woman who was always known for her class and style, with many women still wanting to be like her. Jackie had a pretty lavish upbringing, she was part of a socialite family and was always around the rich and the famous. She was ranked as one of the most popular first ladies, and in 1999 was named on of he most admired men and women in America.
Jackie lost her life when she was 64, which is not as young as some of those on our list, but still young enough to be considered. She had four children she left behind. In 1993, she was thrown from her horse and they discovered a swollen lymph node in her groin. She was eventually diagnosed with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. She began chemotherapy in January 1994, and while she stated everything was looking good, she lost her battle just four months later.
9 Adrienne Shelly
Adrienne Shelly is another one that is probably not a household name. She was an American actress, film director and screenwriter. She was known for her roles in The Unbelievable truth, Trust and Waitress. She married and had one daughter in 2003.
In November of 2006, when her daughter was just three years old, Shelly was found dead, hanging in the shower of her apartment. The original examination did not find anything suspicious and it was looking like it was going to be ruled a suicide. Her husband took a stand and insisted they keep looking, as he was convinced that his wife would never commit suicide. The police looked closer and discovered a footprint that looked suspicious. It eventually lead them to arrest a construction worker, who later confessed to murdering Shelly and trying to make it look like a suicide.
8 Dana Plato
This is probably a name you won’t know, but I bet you recognize the girl in the picture! Dana Plato was an American actress who was most notable from her role as Kimberly Drummond on the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes. After the show ended, Plato tried to portray herself as a working actress, but did not have much success. She would work in made-for-tv movies and did a lot of voice-over work.
Plato married Lanny Lambert, and the two of them had one child, Tyler. Sadly, Tyler would lose his mother at a very young age. On May 8th, 1999, when she was only 34-years old, Plato died from an overdoes of prescription drugs. Plato had suffered for years with poverty and substance use. Plato appeared on the The Howard Stern Show the day before her death and spoke about her troubles.
7 Joey Feek
Joey Feek was an American country music singer and songwriter. From the years 2008 to 2016, the singing duo of Joey + Rory had comprised of Feek and her husband Rory Lee Feek. The couple took a break from music in 2014 to welcome the birth of their child. It wasn’t until after the birth that they realized that their child, who they had named Indiana, had down syndrome.
A few months after the birth of their daughter, Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had surgery and treatment, and was considered cancer free. Therefore, she did not receive any chemotherapy or radiation treatment. A year later, after falling ill, Joey was told that her cancer had returned and had moved to her colon. After more surgery and treatment, Joey entered into hospice care to focus on the quality of life she had left. On march 4th, 2016, she lost her battle and was 40 years old at the time.
6 Carrie Fisher
While it may not seem like a young death, at the age of 60, it is a tragic one that came out of nowhere. In today’s world, 60 is relatively young to die, especially when you have children who have barely entered into adulthood. Carrie Fisher needs no introduction, she will forever be known as Princess Leia in the Star Wars film series. She has starred in other roles, such as; Shampoo, When Harry Met Sally and Hannah and Her Sisters. She left behind one daughter, Billie Lourd, who you can catch in Scream Queens.
On December 23rd, 2016, Fisher was on a flight from London to Los Angeles when she suffered a medical emergency right before the plane was set to land. A passenger had to perform CPR on Fisher until paramedics were able to arrive. Following four days in intensive care, Fisher died on December 27th. The cause of death was listed as a cardiac arrest, with sleep apnea playing a factor.
5 Smita Patil
Unless you are familiar with the Bollywood industry, you may not be familiar with Patil. Smita Patil was an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. She was regarded as one of the finest stage and film actresses of all times. In her career, that lasted a little over ten years, she had appeared in over 80 Hindi and Marathi films. She was also the recipient of many nominations and awards. Bollywood is beautiful, and so rich in culture, and Patil definitely added to that.
Patil was married to Raj Babbar, and it wasn’t long until they were expecting their first child. On December 13th, 1986, just two weeks after the birth of her son Patil’s life was cut short after she died from childbirth complications. She was only 31 years old at the time. Almost 20 years after her death, reports are being made that the reason she lost her life was due to severe medical negligence.
4 Princess Diana
Princess Diana was a family name in almost every home around the world for a long time. Known as the “people’s princess” and was the first wife of Prince Charles, and next in line with her husband to the thrown. Known for her charitable work, kind heart, and rebel spirit she was beloved by everyone, except maybe the English monarchy.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles had two sons, William and Harry, and they do not need any interaction. Sadly, they lost their mother well before they should have when she was involved in a horrific car accident in France in 1997. Princess Diana and her car were attempting to evade the hounding paparazzi, when they were struck and Princess Diana was killed instantly. Some say that the royal family had something to do with this, which has never been proven.
3 Suzanne Crough
Suzanne Crough was known as being a child actress, and the role that made her famous? It was none other than the role of Tracy Partridge, the youngest child of the Partridge family. She came from a large Irish-American family. After the end of the Partridge Family, she went on to make several TV movies and guest appearances on television shows.
Crough went to college after acting and ended up operating a bookstore. She married a man named William Condray and the pair had two daughters. Crough was only 52 when she died at her home on April 27th, 2015. The cause of death was not immediately released, but the police later stated that it was due to a “medical episode” and that her death was not considered suspicious in any way.
2 Wendie Jo Sperber
Wendie Jo Sperber was an American actress who was best known for her roles in films such as, Back To The Future, Bachelor Party and Bosom Buddies. Along with being a talented actress, she was actively involved in charity work around the struggles those with cancer face. In 1983, she married Richard Velasquez and had a son and daughter.
In 1997, Sperber was diagnosed with breast cancer, which following treatment seemed to have gone into remission. She revealed to the world in April of 2002 that the cancer had reappeared and had spread throughout the rest of her body. Throughout the entire treatment period, she continued to work in many projects. Then, at age 47, she passed away.
1 Amanda Peterson
Amanda Peterson was another American actress who was best known for her role as Cindy Mancini in the film Can’t Buy My Love. She started out her career on stage productions such as The Sound of Music and Annie. She then went on to star on TV shows and movies. After her career in acting, she settled back in her hometown and enrolled in university.
She has married twice, and has two beautiful children. Peterson was involved in some criminal behaviour and was arrested a handful of times for charges, such as; assault, harassment, DUI and possession. On July 3rd, 2015, her body was discovered by police after the family had reported her missing from a family dinner. A toxicology report was done, and it came back to say that Peterson died of an accidental overdose on pain medication. She was only 43 at the time.
Sources: Wikipedia.com, scribal.com, idiva.com