some celebs lived their whole lives
without us ever finding out their
secrets but the truth doesn't always
stay private especially once a star has
passed away here are celebs who took
huge secrets to their graves after
Prince Rogers Nelson passed away in 2016
secrets began to emerge about the music
legend but they weren't salacious many
of the things we learned about him after
his death surrounded his philanthropic
efforts Van Jones an environmentalist
who worked on the green Jobs Act told
Rolling Stone about a $50,000 check he
received from an anonymous donor around
2006 Jones who wasn't in the business of
accepting anonymous checks returned it
to the sender but it came back this time
with a phone call the caller told Jones
I cannot tell you who the money is
coming from but his favorite color is
purple there are people that have solar
panels on their houses right now in
Oakland California that they don't know
Prince paid for it was around this time
that Jones learned about some of princes
other work there was the co-founding of
the educational effort teaching urban
minority youths
technology yes we code as well as his
donations to the family of deceased teen
Trayvon Martin these charity efforts
were kept quiet seemingly done for the
cause and not the recognition yes we
code has now 15 major technology
companies working with kids in the hood
getting them ready to have job in
Silicon Valley that was prince while
George Michael's relationship with the
public and the media was scandalous at
times throughout his career the stories
that came out after his death made the
singer seem like an angel according to
the Associated Press Michael made many
large donations to several charities
including Childline Macmillan Cancer
Support and the Terrence Higgins Trust
an HIV awareness group the most
interesting part about these donations
is that Michael kept them secret the
founder of Childline said that Michael
gave the organization all his royalties
from one of his biggest hits Jesus to a
child plus much more for the Terrence
Higgins Trust Michael donated the
royalties from his Elton John duet don't
let the Sun go down on me it wasn't
until Gene Wilder died at the age of 83
that fans first learned what had been
ailing the legendary comedian
when the celebs death was announced in
2016 Us Weekly also released his cause
of death complications from Alzheimer's
disease according to a follow-up report
Wilder had been struggling with the
disease for more than three years before
it finally took him in a statement
released by his family it was said that
Wilders secret was a way of protecting
the smiles of his fans so to speak they
explained the decision to wait until
this time to disclose his condition
wasn't vanity but more so that the
countless young children that would
smile or call out to him there's Willy
Wonka would not have to be then exposed
to an adult referencing illness or
trouble and causing delight to travel to
worry disappointment or confusion on
July 26 1985 news broke that Rock Hudson
one of Hollywood's sexiest leading men
from the 50s and 60s had AIDS according
to People magazine back then AIDS was
largely associated with gay men and
Hudson soon became the most famous
person afflicted with it but the actor
never made an explicit statement about
his sexuality before he died in October
of 1985 the truth seemed confined to
tight Hollywood circles friends and
family it wasn't until after his death
that it was confirmed that Hudson was a
gay man shortly after his passing the
autobiography Rock Hudson his story
touched on the star's sexuality in the
book he called his ex-boyfriend League
Arlington his true love years later a
recorded conversation between Hudson and
his ex-wife Phyllis Gates leaked to The
Hollywood Reporter in the private talk
gates confronted Hudson about his
sexuality and his sexual exploits from
the 1950s Anthony Perkins lived a quiet
and private life his sheltered
personality inevitably drew similarities
to his most famous character Norman
Bates from psycho a comparison that
Perkins hated we all go a little mad
sometimes when Perkins died at his home
surrounded by his close family and
friends in 1992 it seemed to be without
warning at least to the public but
Perkins was prepared he had been sick
and had kept it secret from the outside
world
according to the New York Times for two
years prior to his death Perkins was
secretly receiving treatment for AIDS
the actor who wrote a statement to be
read after his death apparently didn't
want a big deal made of it as the Los
Angeles Times reported he said in the
statement I chose not to go public about
having AIDS because to misquote
Casablanca I'm not much at being noble
but it doesn't take much to see that the
problems of one old actor don't amount
to a hill of beans in this crazy world
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