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?
Johnny Gaudreau. Hockey player. Johnny Hockey was one of my favorites that wasn’t on my favorite team. He was a small guy, who proved everyone wrong. He was a good dude from all the clips and interviews I’ve seen over the years.
I saw the comment that broke it on reddit, some random guy in the Phillies GDT. Said “Johnny Gaudreau is dead”. Spent the night following the rumors until it was confirmed by a retired league ref.
He and his brother, Matt, were in town for their sisters wedding, staying at their dad’s house. They were cycling and a drunk driver killed them both, only stopped because the bikes were still under the truck. His wife was pregnant at the time too.
I cycle, I’ve got brothers and it just hit me so hard. I was fucked up about it for a week at least.
For me it was when Steve Irwin died.
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.
Agree with all you said. His life was joyous and I think the legacy lives on with how wholesome his family is even now. :)
I’m not usually impacted by celebrities but I was hit surprisingly hard by the death of John Bain aka TotalBiscuit on YouTube. Why? He just kind of seemed like a regular, fairly young gamer and decent dude who just wanted to let people know whether a game might be worth buying… and then suddenly surprise, cancer. A shit ton of treatment and four years later, gone. It just felt like a reminder that life is random and unfair.
It really shook me. I started watching his videos and streams when I was 14. Gaming content as we know it was just getting started, and I’m pretty sure he started streaming on justin.tv before it became twitch. It felt like I was part of some new and exciting world, right on the cutting edge.
8 years later, I was 22 and he was dead at 34. There had been a couple kids in my grade that died growing up, but I had never truly been confronted by human mortality and how unfair it could be. It would only be a slight exaggeration to say I listened to him talk every day for over a third of my life. I knew it was coming eventually, but when I saw the news I was truly devastated.
Parasocial relationships are crazy. I was so young (and therefore broke) that I never got to meet him, but his death hit me harder than not only that of a couple pets, but also my great grandmother. In a way it makes sense, I literally “spent more time” with him than almost anyone else in the world. That may still be true even today. I don’t regret a minute.
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.