Writer's Block: Untimely Passing

Out of the ones listed, Princess Di and Heath Ledger.

I was just nearly 9 when Diana died, but I had been a HUGE fan of hers for a while. I read books about her and watched shows about her on tv whenever they came on. I loved all the dresses she wore, I even did a project about her once for school. When they had her funeral on tv, I cried so much. I remember very specifically when the Princes went up and Harry put the letter on the coffin that said Mummy.

I think Heath Ledger's death affected me so much because it was so sudden and unexpected. He was so young, younger than I had even realized (27, if you didn't know). I was a big fan of his movies since A Knight's Tale came out back when I was in middle school. I remember my mom and I going to see it in theaters, I think I was in 8th grade, and we both got such a kick out of it. I had this huge poster of him from that movie that was up in my room all through high school and in my dorm freshman year too. (it finally started falling apart the end of freshman year so I threw it away... how I wish I hadn't, now!)

I was also really excited to see him in The Dark Knight since the trailer for that had just come out about a month earlier and it looked SO COOL. I was a little apprehensive of Heath playing the Joker when I first heard about the casting, but after the trailer I was convinced and even more excited to see it! And then, one day in January I get up and turn the tv on and all that's on is news of his death. I was shocked. I really couldn't believe it... a drug overdose? And what about his poor kid?? I sent my friend Sonia, who I also knew to be a big fan of his, a text message saying, "Have you heard about Heath Ledger?" She didn't reply to me at first but then a couple hours later sent me a text back saying, "I can't believe it... what happened???"

As for other celebrity deaths, I wasn't born when John Lennon or Marilyn Monroe died, and I was just a tot (about 4 or 5) when Kurt Cobain died and barely remember anything from it other than it being on the news a lot. Plus I had no idea who he was or anything about Nirvana at the time since I was so young, so I didn't pay any attention to it. But knowing what I know now about all of them, they are definitely people who died before their time, for sure. It's fairly certain that all of them would still be living today (maybe not Marilyn since she'd be rather old) if their lives hadn't been taken through unnatural means, and I think we can all agree that the world would be a more interesting place (and we'd have more awesome music) if they were still around today.