Nobody lives forever, but some deaths are truly shocking. When a public figure passes
away unexpectedly, the world tends to react with sadness, surprise, and curiosity. So
let's take a look at the final moments of some of the most beloved figures in sports
and entertainment.
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Helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).
The night before Heath Ledger died, he had an upbeat phone conversation with his sister
Kate, who told People Magazine that she warned him about mixing medications. The last person
who saw Ledger alive on January 22, 2008 was his housekeeper Teresa Solomon, who got to
his apartment at 12:30 PM. Then at 2:45, his masseuse Diana arrived and waited to be let
in his bedroom, but he never answered. When she walked into his room, he wasn't responding,
so she picked up his phone and called one of his speed-dial contacts, Mary-Kate Olsen,
surprisingly enough.
"We never knew that there was a connection."
Diana finally called 911 at 3:26 PM. Paramedics arrived soon thereafter, but Ledger was pronounced
dead at 3:36 PM. The toxicology report stated that he died from acute intoxication by the
combined effects of various drugs. His death was ruled an accident, which made sense as
he had made plans for the day.
On July 8, 2020, Naya Rivera's 4-year-old son Josey was found alone on a boat at 5:00
PM on Lake Piru, California. A member of the search and rescue team told Us Weekly that
Rivera sent a photo of Josey to a relative somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours
before he was found. The team used the timestamp on the photo to narrow down its search for
the actress. At a press conference about her disappearance, Ventura County Sheriff Bill
Ayub shared,
"We know from speaking with her son that he and Naya swam in the lake together at some
point during their journey. It was during that time that her son described being helped
into the boat by Naya, who boosted him onto the deck from behind. He told investigators
that he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water."
Ayub theorized that the boat started drifting and that Rivera was able to summon enough
strength and energy to get Josey back on the boat but not herself. Rivera's death was deemed
an accidental drowning. On July 13, her body was found floating in the lake.
On July 12, 2013, Cory Monteith tweeted about Sharknado, which had premiered on SyFy the
day before. He also welcomed visitors into his hotel room, and then he went out at some
point. His friend and acting coach Andrew McIlroy told People Magazine that Monteith,
who struggled with addiction, was with longtime sober friends. As he put it,
"They were not using with him [that night]. There was no double life up here.”
E! News reported that Monteith hit up two Vancouver nightclubs, Queen's Republic and
The Roxy, although a rep for The Roxy claimed that to the best of their knowledge he wasn't
there. As revealed in the 2016 TV special Autopsy: The Last Hours of Cory Monteith,
security camera footage confirmed that the actor returned to his room alone at 2:16 AM.
Glee director Adam Shankman told CNN that he talked to Monteith hours before he died
and recalled that he was doing well and that Monteith even said,
"I am feeling fantastic."
In the Autopsy special, forensic pathologist Michael Hunter said that hotel staff found
Monteith collapsed on the floor and that nearby was a spoon with heroin residue and a hypodermic
needle. The coroner concluded that Monteith died accidentally from, quote, "mixed drug
toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol." Ironically,
this tragedy was attributed to the actor's recent rehab stint, where he'd lost the tolerance
he attained from his previous drug usage.
"It's clear that in the last week of his life, Cory was fighting a deadly battle against
his inner demons."
January 26, 2020 started out as a busy day for Kobe Bryant. He attended 7 AM mass at
Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church. He even reportedly asked a priest about Confirmation.
Then at 8:19 AM, he DM'd Shaquille O'Neal's son Shareef, who later shared that he wished
that he hadn't slept in so that he could've responded. At some point that morning, Bryant
spoke to LeBronJames on the phone to congratulate him on surpassing his scoring record the night
before.
After church, Bryant boarded a helicopter to coach his daughter Gianna's basketball
team. Two of Gianna's teammates, their parents, and the team's assistant coach were also in
the helicopter. During the trip, Bryant texted Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.
The former Lakers All-Star was hoping to secure an internship for Lexi Altobelli, whose parents
and sister were in the helicopter that day.
The National Transportation Safety Board later reported that the helicopter's pilot said
that he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer. When air traffic control asked what he planned
to do, there was no reply. The last radar contact occurred at 9:45 AM. Soon after, the
helicopter crashed into a hill, and everyone on board passed away.
"Live on, brother."
On July 22, 2011, the night before singer Amy Winehouse passed away, she met with her
personal physician at 7:00 PM. According to the physician, Winehouse was sober for most
of that month until she resumed drinking two days prior. She also claimed that the singer
was tipsy when she saw her, although she wasn't slurring her words. Winehouse's live-in bodyguard
Andrew Morris also described her as tipsy. As he recalled to the Mirror,
"She was showing me some clips on her laptop and she was singing and she said 'Boy, I can
sing' and I said, 'Damn right, you can sing.' She said, 'If I could I would give it back
just to walk down the street with no hassle, I would.'"
Morris checked on Winehouse at 2:00 AM that night and then again at 10:00 in the morning,
when she was still asleep. When he popped back in her room at 3:00 in the afternoon,
the singer wasn't breathing, and there were three empty vodka bottles. The coroner's report
stated that her blood-alcohol level was more than five times the legal limit. The 27-year-old
Winehouse died from accidental alcohol poisoning, which was officially classified as "death
by misadventure."
On June 24, 2009, Michael Jackson had ahi tuna and a salad while dining with his children
in the afternoon. According to his personal chef, he prayed and appeared to be in a good
mood. He left his mansion around 7:00 PM to head to the Staples Center for rehearsal.
His vocal director Dorian Holley recalled that he was enthusiastic and happy during
rehearsal. According to Grammys executive producer Ken Ehrlich, Jackson didn't appear
to be tired or otherwise out of the ordinary. After rehearsal, he thanked the crew and told
them, "God bless you."
The singer left rehearsal around midnight, and when he got home, he greeted a small group
of fans who were waiting at the gate. His bodyguard noticed Dr. Conrad Murray's car
parked outside. Jackson had trouble sleeping, so he begged Murray for propofol, a very powerful
anesthetic. Murray refused and instead gave him Valium at 1:30 AM. That didn't work, so
he injected him with Ativan at 2:00 AM. Then at 3:00, he injected him with Versed. By the
time the sun came up, Jackson was still awake and begging for propofol, which Murray administered
at 10:40 AM, leading to Jackson's overdose and death.
On February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston had breakfast with her daughter Bobbi Kristina
at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Afterwards, Whitney ordered more food to her room and reportedly
took some Xanax. Her cousin Dionne Warwick called to coordinate their plans for Clive
Davis' pre-Grammy party later that night. Whitney also talked to her mom Cissy about
their plans for the party.
"What did she say in that call?" "It was that she loved me, and things like that, which
she always said."
After her calls, Houston ate a hamburger and french fries before she drew herself a bath.
Then she brought a turkey sandwich into the bathroom. Her two bodyguards reportedly heard
her singing as she soaked in the tub. Around 3:00 PM, one of the bodyguards realized that
she'd been quiet, so he called out to her and knocked on the door, but there was no
response. Someone in her entourage pushed the bathroom door open and found her slumped
over in the tub with her head underwater. A bodyguard pulled her out of the tub, and
another reached out to the front desk. Hotel staff called 911 at 3:43 PM. There were already
police at the hotel because of the party, so they arrived just two minutes later. Paramedics
tried to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at 3:55. The toxicology report stated
that she died from drowning and the effects of heart disease and cocaine use.
On December 13, 2016, Canadian actor Alan Thicke played hockey with his youngest son
Carter at Pickwick Gardens in Burbank, California. He had a heart attack and collapsed at the
rink, so an ambulance was called. The vice president of Pickwick Gardens told KCBS that
Thicke gave a thumbs up and asked Carter to take a photo of him on the stretcher. The
paramedics were able to stabilize him and things appeared to be fine. As Carter recalled
to Entertainment Tonight:
"I got to give him a hug and say, 'I love you,' and then, that was the last time I saw
him."
When Thicke was heading into the operating room, he still appeared to be in good spirits.
As Carter recounted to Entertainment Tonight,
"He's in the emergency room, kind of bragging about it, and of course bragging that he was
the one who passed me the puck, and he was saying, 'Oh, got to play hockey with my son
and got to watch him score a goal – what a way to go out."
Unfortunately, that joke became a reality, as Thicke passed away that day at the hospital.
"That was brutal. That was really rough."
At around 11:30 AM on September 7, 2018, Mac Miller's assistant went to wake him up, as
part of their usual routine. But this time, he discovered that the rapper had passed away.
The autopsy report noted that Miller died from an accidental overdose with Fentanyl,
cocaine, and alcohol all present in his system. He'd struggled with addiction for years.
Miller was attempting to get sober, but he had slipped up three days before he died.
As a source revealed to People Magazine, he spent the night before he died watching football
with some friends. Court documents revealed that he messaged his dealer for drugs on September
4, in addition to arranging services with sex workers in another conversation. It's
not clear exactly what happened after he said goodbye to his assistant the night before,
but at some point he consumed counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl.
On August 30, 1997, Princess Diana woke up on her romantic partner Dodi Al Fayed's yacht
in Sardinia, Italy. She then boarded a plane and headed to the Ritz Hotel in Paris, after
which she went to the salon for a hair appointment. That evening, she called her friend, Daily
Mail reporter Richard Kay, from the Ritz. She also spoke to her sons William and Harry
on the phone. At around 7:00 PM, she and Al Fayed left the hotel and spent some time at
his apartment. They intended to go out for dinner, but they left because of the photographers
who were at the restaurant.
Al Fayed planned to propose to Diana that night. They returned to the Ritz at 9:50 PM
and had dinner at a hotel restaurant. They left around 12:20 AM, trying to escape the
paparazzi by exiting the hotel through a back entrance. Their driver attempted to evade
photographers and ended up crashing into a concrete pillar. He and Al Fayed died immediately.
The firefighter who pulled Diana out of the wrecked car told The Sun that she said to
him,
"My God, what's happened?"
Diana arrived at the hospital for surgery at 2:00 AM, but she was pronounced dead two
hours later.