Phone calls often go unnoticed in day-to-day life. It's only after someone passes away
that they take on an extra meaning. The last known phone calls made by celebrities can
be a chilling look at their last days, and here are just a few.
Princess Diana entered the public eye in 1981 with her storybook wedding to Prince Charles,
heir to the United Kingdom's throne. She was a public figure for less than two decades,
until her death at age 36 as a result of a car accident in a Paris traffic tunnel in
August 1997. In that time, she became a humanitarian, earned a reputation as The People's Princess,
and had two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
In the 2017 TV documentary Our Mother Diana: Her Life and Legacy, William and Harry shared
rare, intimate, and frank thoughts and recollections about their mother. At the time of Diana's
death, William was 15 and Harry was 12. On that fateful day, they were enjoying a getaway
at Balmoral, the royal family's vacation property in Scotland.
Diana placed a call to check in on her boys, but neither prince would have any of it — they
rushed to get off the phone as quickly as possible, as they were in the middle of playing
with their cousins and they wanted to get back to the fun. Harry recounts in the documentary,
"If I'd known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother the things
I would — the things I would have said to her"
Whatever the origins of the "King of Pop" title may be, Michael Jackson sure fit the
bill. In the 1980s, he was a record-selling and hit-making machine, moving more than 30
million copies of "Thriller" and churning out Number 1 singles like "Rock With You,"
"Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Man in the Mirror."
However, Jackson fell hard from his cultural pedestal in the '90s and 2000s, beleaguered
by numerous allegations of child abuse and an infamous incident where he dangled his
baby son out of a window.
In 2009, Jackson staged a comeback, announcing a residency at London's O2 Arena. The shows
never happened — Jackson died at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009. As reported by The
New York Times, Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was held liable in the
pop star's death. He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for overprescribing the singer
powerful and addictive pain medications.
Jackson's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the comeback concerts' promoter,
AEG Live. During the 2013 court proceedings, Jackson's 16-year-old son, Prince, testified
that AEG executive Randy Phillips showed up at the family's home in Los Angeles and confronted
Murray over Jackson. CNN reported,
"[Prince] called his father from the security guard shack telephone to let him know Phillips
was there. His father asked him to offer Phillips food and drink."
They didn't speak again — by the next morning, Michael Jackson was dead.
I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were one of the original, definitive sitcom
couples, but they were also married off-screen. According to People, the marriage was tumultuous
as Desi frequently cheated, and Ball once tried to shoot him in the head. They ultimately
divorced in 1960.
Ball remarried producer Gary Morton, and Arnaz to his neighbor Edie Hirsch but they remained
very close friends. As People noted, Ball visited Desi while he lay in a hospital bed
with lung cancer in December 1986.
Near the end, the progression of the cancer left Desi barely able to speak, but he fielded
a phone call from his beloved former wife. According to Steven Sanders and Tom Gilbert's
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, daughter Lucie Arnaz said she held
the phone up to her father so he could talk. Lucie recalled,
"She just said the same thing over and over again. It was 'I love you. I love you. Desi,
I love you.'"
And, referring to one of Ball's upcoming appearances, he replied,
"I love you, too, honey. Good luck with your show,"
After the breakup of the Beatles, John Lennon's legacy was so secure that he could have disappeared
forever to live in bliss with his wife, conceptual artist Yoko Ono. But he kept making music,
such as landmark singles like "Power to the People," "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," "Instant
Karma," and "Imagine." But shortly after releasing the covers collection Rock 'n' Roll in 1975,
he retired for five years to be a stay-at-home dad.
"That's about when my life changed, really."
On the evening of December 7, 1980, Lennon called his aunt, Mimi Smith, at her home in
Liverpool, England. Smith told writer Judith Simons in 1981 that on the call Lennon had
been, quote, "witty, funny, bubbling over with excitement, coming over very soon," indicating
that he planned to return to the U.K. for the first time in a decade.
The next day, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York apartment building by Mark David
Chapman. Lennon was 40.
Hollywood's biggest sex symbol and "blonde bombshell" of the 1950s and early 1960s, Marilyn
Monroe died a lonely and tragic death in August 1962. The Hollywood megastar was found dead
in the bedroom of her Los Angeles home. Police ruled that Monroe's death was a "probable
suicide."
Authorities also noted that Monroe was discovered with a telephone receiver in her hand, indicating
that she'd made at least one call in her final hours. Police reports indicated Monroe's final
call was to actor Peter Lawford, who was married to Patricia Kennedy - sister of President
John F Kennedy.
There have been many theories surrounding Monroe's death, some of which were explored
by The Killing of Marilyn Monroe podcast. As the series notes, Monroe's rumored connections
to both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy didn't seem to end well. The brothers were
afraid the alleged affairs would ruin their reputations. Some accounts suggest this made
her call Lawford. As Monroe's biographer Lois Banner stated,
"She was planning to hold a conference the next Monday and reveal what the Kennedys had
done to her."
Monroe historian Danforth Prince alleged she told Lawford that,
"If [JFK] didn't fly down to see me and talk things over, he'll hear from me at my press
conference Monday morning. It'll make headlines around the world."
Elvis Presley helped popularize rock n' roll in the 1950s with his swinging hips and undeniable
swagger on songs like "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog." He had retreated into a casual
life by the 1970s, spending most of his time hanging out at his Memphis estate, Graceland.
There he surrounded himself with loyal employees and friends, as his one-year marriage to Priscilla
Presley had ended in divorce in 1973.
Elvis then proposed to girlfriend Ginger Alden in January 1977. In the early morning hours
of August 16, 1977, she was in a Graceland bedroom with Elvis' only child, daughter Lisa
Marie Presley. Elvis had been up all night, having attended
a late-night dental appointment and then consuming a slew of prescription drugs, and unable to
sleep, headed to the bathroom with a book. That's where Elvis spent his final moments.
After he was found unresponsive, he was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to author and Elvis compatriot Chris Hitchens, one of the rock star's last phone
calls, placed on the day before he died, was to ex-wife Priscilla. Hitchens stated,
"During that call, they'd argued over travel arrangements for Lisa Marie. It had been a
tense conversation, but at least they were on speaking terms."
Only a few NBA players can stake a claim to the title of "greatest of all time." Among
them are five-time champion and 18-time all-star Kobe Bryant, and four-time champ and 16-time
all-star LeBron James. In January 2020, shortly after joining Bryant's old team, the Los Angeles
Lakers, James passed Bryant for third on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
It was a watershed moment both professionally and personally. After he topped Bryant by
scoring his 33,644th point, James said:
"I'm just happy to be in any conversation with Kobe Bryant, one of the all-time greats
to ever play."
Bryant congratulated James on Twitter, saying:
"Continuing to move the game forward, @KingJames. Much respect my brother."
After the game, Bryant reached out with praise once more. According to The Athletic, the
two legends spoke over the phone, with many of James' Lakers teammates listening in.
Tragically, the next morning, Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and seven other people died in a helicopter
crash en route to a youth basketball game.
In the 2010s, DJs were the new rock stars, lording over massive gatherings of dancers
with their laptops full of irresistible beats. Few were as popular and famous as Avicii.
The Swedish electronic dance musician, real name Tim Bergling, scored some anthemic radio
hits like "Levels" and "Wake Me Up."
Offstage, Avicii suffered. He was diagnosed with pancreatitis at age 21, which he attributed
to heavy alcohol consumption. While on vacation in Oman in April 2018, Avicii took his own
life at the age of 28.
In the hours before his death, Avicii reached out to his relatives via long-distance phone
call. A source close to the Berglings stated,
"The family realized that it was really bad and that one had to act."
One of Avicii's relatives immediately boarded a plane to Oman, but by the time it landed,
the musician was dead.
After breaking up in the '90s, iconic Seattle grunge band Soundgarden reunited in the 2010s
and toured throughout the decade. The band's final show with charismatic, powerfully-piped
singer-songwriter Chris Cornell came on May 17, 2017. Sadly, none of the fans in attendance
knew that this would be the singer's last night on Earth.
The frontman went to his hotel room immediately after the show. He placed a check-in phone
call with his wife, Vicky Cornell, and to her, Chris, a recovering substance abuse addict,
spoke with an alarmingly slurred tone. After he hung up, Vicki called Soundgarden's bodyguard,
Martin Kirsten, to perform a wellness check on her husband.
Kirsten had to break down Chris' hotel room door and then a suite door, where he discovered
the singer on the bathroom floor, unresponsive and not breathing. Chris Cornell was pronounced
dead at age 51, and authorities ruled the death a suicide.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call or chat online with
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Or Text HOME to the
Crisis Text Line 741741.