I’ve never been one to idolize celebrities. That said, it would be foolish of me to claim they haven’t touched countless lives. So, when they’re gone, it’s no wonder their loss is felt so deeply.
Just last week, I paused mid-scroll during an otherwise mundane social media browse to learn that David Lynch had passed.
It felt strangely personal. His work, creative talent, and unshakable authenticity had always inspired me. He was a dreamer unlike any other, and it saddened me to realize there won’t be any more projects under his name. I’m still thinking about him.
As it happens, Redditors recently reflected on other celebrity deaths that struck a similar chord. Their stories moved us to put together a list of their choices as a tribute. Read them below, and let’s honor their legacies together.
#1
Robin Williams still gets me.
Image credits: Leeser
#2
Alan Rickman.
Image credits: erikivy
#3
When I was a boy, my dad would vocally discuss how he didn't want me.
Mister Rogers was an adult male who seemed to like me just fine. I would watch his show as a child and my mom say I would *plead* with the television when he started putting on his shoes.
"Stay today! Just this time, please, just stay this time..."
I heard he died at the end of my work day. I couldn't finish my supper, I went into my room, closed my door and cried my eyes out. I was 24. I really, really, really wanted to just tell him thank you.
Image credits: RealLiveLawyer
#4
Chadwick Bozeman.
tdrknt1:
Chadwick Bowsman that dude was dying and still visited sick folks in the hospital. He was a good man.
Image credits: cajedo
#5
Steve Irwin.
maybeee123_Report:
Steve Irwin could have done some some amazing things in the last 20 years.
His kids are making him proud though.
Image credits: Huge-Mango-8403
#6
Anton Yelchin. He was an only child, too.
Image credits: dizzyspell
#7
Princess Diana.
Image credits: Agreeable_Air_8270
#8
David Bowie.
Image credits: Candy_Lawn
#9
Heath ledger.
Image credits: TheWizOf1FtSq
#10
Grant Imahara.
He was full of life, totally healthy, uplifting, jovial, enthusiastic about science, the exact kind of voice we need in this current time. And he died due to a very sudden brain aneurism. Basically, absolutely nothing you could do to prevent that. It's just a thing that...happens.
A lot of celebrity deaths are tragic and heart-breaking. But Grant's death also felt just straight-up *unfair*.
KahlessAndMolorReport:
Grant Imahara from myth busters was on a date with his fiance when he complained of a headache and then passed out in a restaurant.
Sudden aneurysm at age 49 with virtually no warning.
Image credits: ImNotRacistBuuuut
#11
Matthew Perry hit me HARD! My partner is very much like chandler and I am “a Monica.” People compared us all the time. I had JUST finished his memoir, then less than an hour later heard he died. I have never cried over a celebrity death, I’m not really a cryer (control freak) but I came close with him.
Image credits: NothingElseWorse
#12
John Ritter.
Image credits: retailguy_again
#13
Brandon lee.
Image credits: elsa-thora
#14
Phil Hartman.
Image credits: StrawberryAlert
#15
Brittany Murphy.
Image credits: Sharzzy_
#16
Betty White dying just 17 days before her one-hundreth birthday was so sad. She was a wonderful person. Her death was sad enough, but seeing that picture of the empty Golden Girls couch that was doing the rounds that day hit me the hardest.
Image credits: bettymwhite
#17
Judith Barsi. I loved her as Ducky. 😢.
Image credits: broken_glass08
#18
Anthony Bourdain, Prince.
Image credits: jeney57
#19
John Candy broke my heart.
Image credits: Neely67
#20
Marvin Gaye— getting murdered by your dad during an argument is definitely one for the books.
Image credits: Electrical_Seat7887
#21
There are so many, but Otis Redding has to be on the list. He recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" three days before he was killed in a plane accident. It became the first posthumous No. 1 single in the US.
Image credits: chriswaco
#22
River Phoenix. He'd be just as big as Joaquin if he didn't die.
#23
I’m still sad that Gilda Radner died way too soon.
#24
Naya rivera.
Image credits: ineedadrink1000
#25
Natasha Richardson. She left behind her husband and her two children.
Image credits: Deep_Narwhal_5758
#26
Judy Garland's entire life was one big tragedy.
#27
Amy Winehouse
God the music she would have made.
Image credits: I-am-Just-fine
#28
Vic Morrow, on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
He and two child actors were killed by a helicopter blade.
Image credits: TheGardenBlinked
#29
Chris Farley and Robin Williams.
Image credits: jma7400
#30
For me, out of nowhere - P.S.Hoffman.
#31
Bill Paxton. It still hurts to watch Twister.
#32
Jim Henson. Refused to go to a doctor and ended up with Disney running The Muppets.
#33
David Lynch 😭
Image credits: _prison-spice_
#34
Norm MacDonald. We should have had many more years of top-tier comedy if it weren't for the cancer that basically no one knew he had already been dealing with for years.
Image credits: ForkingSeriously
#35
Aaliyah.
#36
Leslie Jordan.
I know, he was already old, but goddamn it was still too soon for him to leave us. He was such a gem of a man, and a truly wonderful actor.
RIP Leslie Jordan, you would have loved Chappell Roan.
#37
Chris Cornell was a tough one.
#38
Dolores O'Riordan.
#39
Whitney Houston. Her only daughter died the same way just a few years later.
Image credits: sjedinjenoStanje
#40
John Lennon was murdered in front of his wife, with his five year old son in the apartment just upstairs. It was just before Christmas, he was about to release a comeback album, and his aunt who raised him found out about it on the news the next morning in England.
#41
Heather O'Rourke is pretty f*****g tragic. Iconic in the Poltergeist films and dies at like age 10 or 12. .
#42
Karen Carpenter.
#43
Layne Staley. Just because it was a couple weeks before he was found and he had another rig in his hand ready to go. His remains weighed less than 100 lbs as well. Sad.
#44
Sharon Tate :(.
#45
Crocodile Hunter and Robin Williams both made me weep.
#46
Roberto Clemente. Died in a plane crash taking aid supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake.
#47
Anna Nicole Smith always seemed like such a waste to me. She seemed like such a lost soul. Her end always struck me as terribly tragic with her son dying shortly afterwards and both of them leaving behind her baby… celebrity or not this was just such a sad story.
Image credits: Red_enami
#48
Jayne Mansfield.
There is a reason trucks have that bar at the bottom of the rear, now.
Anton Yelchin, his death sparked a Jeep recall.
#49
Buddy Holly.
#50
Gotta be Kobe because of everyone else including his daugjter.
#51
Christina Grimmie. :(.
Image credits: jannabjones
#52
Avicii.
#53
Selena.
#54
Cameron Boyce.
#55
Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
#56
Mac Miller.
