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submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Has the news of famous persons death ever made you cry even though you never met them, or a stranger that you knew about but never met? Why did it make you cry?

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Grant Imahara from mythbusters.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

bowie didn’t hit me when it happened, but years later blackstar made me weep

[-] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

I'd say the closest I've come was Robin Williams. Patrick Stewart would probably be even moreso.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Robin Williams, David Bowie and Chester beddingfield. Seem to be the most common answer. Williams was a special guy, you could just tell. Probably made the people close to him feel something really loved.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I would have a breakdown the day Patrick Stewart died.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Yeah, he feels almost like a second father to me. I think if I ever met him, I'd just want to hug him.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

He seems like a great guy indeed

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[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Yes. At the memorial for Steve Jobs on Apple's campus. People were speaking in moving ways about their relationships with him. It made it more personal. I can't imagine crying over someone I didn't know without context like that.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Were you there? Not sure if I’m reading it right but it sounds like you attended?

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago
[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

For me it was when Steve Irwin died.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

It was a shock, but at the same time it gave so much credit to all the other things he did. Never faked it, was most joyous in the face of death over and over again.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

Agree with all you said. His life was joyous and I think the legacy lives on with how wholesome his family is even now. :)

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Charles Bradley. He lived on the streets for most of his life. When he became famous he died very shortly after :(

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I cried when they canceled The Venture Brothers.

My best friends and I watched every new episode when they aired while we were in college. After I graduated we all pretty much drifted apart, but when Publick and Hammer would actually get around to putting out another season it felt like I was back in that dorm lobby on that smelly couch, watching this show on a huge rear protection TV, with a group of people that were closer to me than anyone ever before or since.

When they canceled the show it felt like there was this unicorn at the zoo, and then one day the zookeeper just went out into the enclosure, blew its brains out, shrugged, and announced "Too expensive to feed!" I was devastated.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

I mourned, legitimately mourned Terry Pratchett’s death. I don’t even have a parasocial relationship with him in the sense you get with streamers and YouTubers and whatnot. He was just a man who brought wonderful ideas into the world, who focused my understanding of life and so much more, and to hear of his end hurt me bitterly.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Omayra Sánchez. Brave in the face of a needless death.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I am actually familiar with this story. Incredibly sad and cruel. I remember thinking that if we do come to life to balance our Karma what must she have done to deserve this.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

My entire high school mourned Mr Rogers' passing. 4,000 people and the hallways were almost quiet.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Respect is earned.

[-] [email protected] 28 points 3 days ago

Anthony Bourdain hit hard. I always thought of him as having the best job on earth. He got to see the best of the world and show it to everyone.

It just goes to show we all wrestle with our demons. Don’t ever be afraid to reach out for help.

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

Without knowing a celebrity personally, you can still resonate deeply with what their art or identity stand for. I shed a tear when David Bowie died because his fearlessness and experimentation was like a beacon to weirdos like me that told us we would be ok if we left the shores of conformity. Plus, he was the funky funky groovy man, man.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

A man only dies when he is forgotten.

Technoblade never dies.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

A bloke at work wears a Technoblade shirt all the time, he lives on

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Anthony Bourdain hit me pretty hard. I was a huge fan starting with Kitchen Confidential and ate up basically everything he produced. But more than just his content, which was great, his worldview and philosophy really spoke to me. It was cynical and angry, without being aimless or shallow. He seemed to be doing something different from everyone else and writing his own rules in a way which had no parallels anywhere in mainstream media.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

David Bowie. I still miss him a lot. I usually don't even really know the names and faces of bands I like, and I wasn't even a big knower of his music, but when I heard he died I cried non stop for a day and a night. He was really something else, this crazy force, changing the whole discourse in music and stardom multiple times in his life. What an awe inspiring character. I wonder who could ever take his place, really.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago

Robin Williams. A surprising death, not a surprising break down. He was so much of my childhood, and always there for a laugh. Life got worse for everyone when he passed.

Grant Imahara. A surprising death, and for me, a surprising response. I still to this day get choked up about Grant. Even though he was on the Mythbusters B team, and was largely not on my radar after, hearing of his death really struck me. I still don't rightly understand why. Perhaps it's just because he was such a genuine and smart guy. Really dunno.

[-] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

Sir Terry Pratchett. Actually, probably counts as multiple because the opening to The Shepherds Crown makes me bawl like a child, and it's pretty much a step-by-step guide for mourning.

Discworld has been my comfort series for a long time. I have read most of the books more times than I can count. Spent months tearing through multiple a day.

Of course, his condition was known amongst the fans, we had all known it was going to be sooner than later, but it felt like a long chapter of my life was closed. I had looked forward to every release, cherished them. The man's work had been beside me through some of the hardest times, always bringing a smile back to my face.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Yeah this one for me, too. It felt like humans lost one of the people who understood them best and still kept caring about them in spite of it all. It took me a long time to face Discworld again and I had to put down Shepherds Crown for a bit at that one part.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I wept a bit for Stephen Hawking. He was a rare, special human. When I read what was written on his grave, there next to Newton and Darwin: "Here lies what was mortal of Stephen Hawking 1942 - 2018" I wept a bit. Still do. Did a bit more just now writing that to be honest.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

Er Robin Williams, Chester Bennington. I think suicide always harder.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

So this is where the question started, was working and a song by Tim Bergling (Avicii) came on and it was one of his less famous tracks. It reminded me of the day I heard that he passed. I wasn’t the hugest fan, but I remembered seeing him play at Tomorrowland. Something about his presence was different and it intrigued me to find out more information about who he was. He was a true artist and got a lot of hate towards the end of his life as he tried to experiment with where electronic music could go. Behind the scenes he was so deeply entrenched in music. Kind of like Bob Dylan in a way. I actually wish he chose a different style of music to play, or joined a band because he was a genius, who was never really given his flowers because electronic producers rarely are. But it killed him. I cried.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Nah, but a couple surprised me with how much they saddened me because I'd always thought it was kind of stupid to get genuinely upset about the deaths of celebrities you don't know. Sometimes your cognitive opinions take a backseat without your permission and you just feel actually mournful about someone who has so little direct connection and who's worldly contributions are almost always in the entertainment space. For me that was David Bowie and Trevor Moore. Both of these surprised me because it's not like I was a hardcore David Bowie fan so it didn't feel like that death should have hit me particularly hard and Trevor, I still can't figure out why that'd upset me so much. I mean I loved his sketch comedy but I'd largely forgotten about him at the time, I think it might have something to do with him being so young as well as all the laughs he'd given us.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago
[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Chester Bennington of Linkin Park low-key destroyed me. I didn't even hear about it when it happened due to a big storm taking out my power for a week. It wasn't until 4 or 5 days after the news hit everyone else when I finally found out.

You can say whatever you want about Linkin Park, but Chester was fucking talented and its still so upsetting to me to think about it.

And then last year, they made Chester die again when they brought on a Scientologist to be the new lead singer. Now Linkin Park as a whole is dead to me.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Did not cry exactly but... if you are like me and you like Babylon 5, do not check up on the cast.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

When Chomsky dies its going to fuck me up HARD. I'm already mentally preparing for it, but that dude has been such an amazing human, he's responded to so many emails, signed so many of my books, and lectured on things in such a way that I've learned a lot

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Almost cried about Dame Maggie Smith. She just seemed like such a stellar person, I really feel like she added value to our society

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Celebrities, no. Pets, definitely.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Not cried, but Trevor Moore's death shook me as that was the first time someone I enjoyed the work of died while I was still expecting to see more work from them in the future.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys was one, and David Lynch very recently was another. Both hit really hard :-(

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood). For my generation, he helped to shape our views on kindness and compassion for humankind. He fought for public access funding in the United States. He helped break color barriers on television. He helped us enjoy jazz.

I have not encountered another media personality who was so genuinely invested in making sure that kids had the tools they needed to deal with the emotional parts of existence. I'm tearing up again thinking about how much he did for us.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

A great reason to mourn someone.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Stephen Hawking. His books gave me a sense of wonder in high school. Those books are a huge part of what inspired my path in life. When I read he had died, I felt a peice of me leave the earth. I cried for humanity, I felt that we all got a bit dumber, as a whole.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Several.

Because their art changed my life.

And I cry for the compassion aroused about how death came to some strangers.

Yes. Empathy and compassion are present.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Never cried, but Rik Mayall hit hard, and Lemmy always seemed immortal so it was a shock when he went.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Jim Henson - I was 19 when he died, and it felt like a central focus of my childhood was suddenly taken away.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Maybe not full-on "cry" but I have gotten teary-eyed more than a few times over the decades when a favorite (and unarguably world-class) musician dies. Eddie Van Halen, Neil Peart and Jeff Beck come to mind right off the bat

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this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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