If you ask any parent about their worst nightmare, they will answer without hesitation that it
is losing their child. This pain never goes away, and no parent should ever endure such
a horrible tragedy. Sadly, sometimes it does happen. Death doesn't care how successful
or wealthy one is, it just arrives claiming the most important person in their life.
Today we take a look at the celebrities who lost their children through tragic circumstances.
Eric Clapton Conor was four when, in March 1991, Eric Clapton
arrived at a New York apartment to collect the boy from his mother who had custody.
It was the first time the legendary musician had ever taken his son out anywhere by himself.
It was the birth of his son and his desire to be a good father that actually made Clapton
return to sobriety.
That day was a new milestone for him, as a dad. The next morning, as Clapton was due
to arrive to pick up Conor for another day out, tragedy struck: the little boy fell out
of an open window… from the 53rd floor.
Two days before his 46th birthday, Clapton said goodbye to his son at the funeral. The
musician expressed the grief over losing his child in the song Tears In Heaven which appeared
on his Unplugged album.
Keanu Reeves Keanu, fairly called the humblest man in Hollywood,
has gone through a series of personal losses in his life. One of those was the loss of
his child. In the late 90's Keanu met Jennifer: the two instantly fell in love and soon Jennifer
was already pregnant with their first daughter.
Sadly, the child they were so eagerly waiting for, was born stillborn after eight months
of pregnancy. The strain put on the couple's relationship by the grief was believed to
have resulted in their breakup several weeks later. In 2001, Jennifer tragically died in
a car accident.
Speaking years later with Parade magazine about Jennifer's passing, Keanu confessed:
"Grief changes shape, but it never ends. People have a misconception that you can deal with
it and say, ‘It’s gone, and I’m better’. They’re wrong. When the people you love
are gone, you’re alone."
Mike Tyson It happened in 2009. Mike Tyson's daughter
was peacefully playing on a treadmill at her home in Phoenix when all of a sudden she accidentally
got tangled in a cord. As soon as her older brother discovered little Exodus with her
neck caught in a cable hanging under the machine's console, he alerted his mom. All the attempts
to revive the girl turned out unsuccessful.
Iron Mike who was considered to be one of the toughest men on the planet, couldn't and
still can't speak about his daughter’s tragic death without tears in his eyes. He confessed
to doing cocaine for a week after her passing.
This interview became history when Tyson, with no warning, apparently unable to deal
with his emotions any longer, asked the reporter to leave… Because no time is enough time
to get over the grief of losing a child.
John Travolta 16-year-old JETT Travolta was at the family's
vacation home in The Bahamas when tragedy struck. The teenager, who at an early age
was diagnosed with a poorly understood syndrome, had a seizure and hit his head on the bath.
All the attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Devastated John Travolta described the death of his son as (quote) "the worst thing that's
ever happened in my life". According to the Saturday Night Fever star, it was the church
of Scientology that helped the family deal with the loss.
It has been more than 10 years since the boy's passing, Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly
Preston, took to social media to pay tribute to their eldest son and to celebrate what
would have been his 28th birthday.
Sylvester Stallone "When a parent loses a child there is no greater
pain. This agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives."
Sage was his first child and, as the actor himself put it, the center of
his universe. 36-year-old Sage was found dead by a housekeeper in his Los Angeles apartment.
The young Stallone who was reportedly engaged died of a heart attack.
In his first media appearance following the tragic passing of his son, the actor stayed
strong saying it was a horrible situation for all of them, but expressing hope that
time would heal the wounds.
Sylvester and Sage did go through a rough patch in their relationship after his divorce
with the boy's mom. But years later Stallone managed to restore it just to lose his son
again...
Pierce Brosnan Handsome, talented, famous, with an incredible
family. When the last part of this equation gets shattered, the others don't matter, either.
This is what happened in the life of Pierce Brosnan. He suffered the first of a string
of devastating tragedies when his first wife Cassandra Harris lost her battle with ovarian
cancer. Years later, in a tragic development, Charlotte, who was Pierce's adopted daughter,
died at the age of 41, from the same type of cancer that took away the life of her mother.
Charlotte, the mum-of-two herself, passed away days after marrying her partner.
Heartbroken over the horrifying story repetition, Brosnan would soon have to face new sad reality,
this time related to his adopted son Chris. After spending years trying to save Chris
who got hooked on cocaine and heroin after his mom's death, the actor had to give up
on that battle.
Every now and then you can still come across headlines referring to Chris as Pierce Brosnan's
estranged son. Even though James Bond is reserved in expressing his feelings in public, he still
speaks honestly about how painful it was to cut Chris off, but he had no other choice.
"I had to say, 'Go. Get busy living, or get busy dying'. He has my prayers."
Bobby Brown The daughter of the singers Whitney Houston
and Bobby Brown was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in January 2015. The 22-year-old
spent six months in a coma before passing.
The family of Bobbi Kristina Brown accused her partner Nick Gordon of giving her a (quote)
“toxic cocktail”. Gordon died 5 years later at the age of 30.
Brown, commenting on his young daughter's passing, revealed how his whole family was
praying for six months for Bobbi Kristina to come out of a coma, which unfortunately
never happened. He added:
“But when God calls you, he calls you.”
The musician made a bitter joke, referring to late Whitney Houston who called their girl
up there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW0nWuSN9yA&feature=emb_title
“[Her mother] was not comfortable by herself, I guess. She just called my daughter with
her.”
Prince The child of the famous musician was born
in 1996 with a very rare genetic disorder called Pfeiffer syndrome and couldn't breathe
without a ventilator. The boy tragically died six days after he was born.
In her memoir The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince, his ex-wife, dancer Mayte Garcia,
wrote: “They brought the baby over to us. He was curled on his side, gasping shallow
little gulps of air. Because there were no lids to blink, his eyes looked startled and
dry. I caught hold of his tiny hand, saying over
and over, ‘Mama loves you, Mama’s here.”
She also told people in an interview that Prince might have never recovered from the
shock and grief.
Sadly, in 2016 the musician himself died of an accidental drug overdose aged 57.
Robert Plant The son of the musician died of a stomach
virus back in 1977, he was just 5 years old. The boy's condition worsened within 24 hours
of diagnosis, his mom called an ambulance, but it was too late: he died on the way to
the hospital.
Robert said that 1977 was (quote) “the year it all stopped for me. Nothing could make
it all right again and nothing ever will.”
Step by step, with the support of the family, he continued living, one day after another.
He later dedicated several songs to his late son.
Speaking about the tragedy in their family's life a couple of years ago, Plant said that
the song “All My Love,” was (quote) "just paying tribute to the joy that he gave us
as a family and, in a crazy way, still does occasionally.”
Bill Cosby Comedian Bill Cosby, who is currently serving
a term in prison over aggravated indecent assault, lost two children: his son Ennis
and his daughter Ensa. Ennis was shot in the head in 1997 in Los Angeles while he was on
winter break from his classes at Columbia University. Soon an 18-year-old man was tried
and convicted of first-degree murder and attempted robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The Cosby family received a lot of support, with numerous strangers leaving flowers on
the spot where the killing took place. Then-president Bill Clinton personally called Bill Cosby
to offer condolences.
Twenty years later the comedian's daughter would die from renal disease aged just 44.
In her last years, Ensa was known for being supportive of her father during his sexual
assault scandal. She defended him saying:
“The man portrayed in the media today is not who my father is. The accusations against
my father have been one-sided since the beginning.”
The woman was said to have been buried next to her late brother Ennis.
Joe Biden
The 47th Vice President of the USA has faced a series of tragic deaths in his family. In
1972, Biden's wife and their one-year-old daughter were killed in an automobile accident.
Neilia was driving with their three children when suddenly their car was hit by a trailer.
The couple's sons Hunter and Beau suffered minor injuries, but both Neilia and Naomi
didn't survive. In 2015, Biden lost Beau due to brain cancer.