Tizzysawr: Is it really immature and ignorant to refuse to weep for somebody who essentially killed themselves slowly over many years?
SimonG: Drug addictions are hardly "chosen". It's called an "addiction" for a reason. She wasn't doing coke of a hooker while driving 200 mph along Malibu and crashing in to a daycare facility for disabled kids..
And we don't even know how she died. At least out of respect we should wait before jumping to conclusion, even it looks all to obvious. Maybe it was suicide?
My guess is alcoholic liver disease, not suicide or accidental overdose. But that's just a guess, based on her longstanding alcoholism and descriptions of her bizarre appearance and manner last Thursday.
cjrgreen: This is very sad. Even though her voice lost its beauty years ago, her death is still a great loss.
Also, a friend in need is a friend indeed, but a friend in Hollywood is no friend at all. Everybody around her saw this coming, as recently as Thursday, and did nothing to help her keep from self-destructing.
bladeofBG: Is this about the handstands by the pool? Do you know if this was reported before her death on Saturday, or after it?
It was observed by many people on Thursday, but intentionally shut up. She was also described as bloated, disheveled, and unfocused at a rehearsal that day, and drunk and combative at a party that night, and at some point she cut herself.
But her handlers and the Grammy handlers carefully suppressed all of that, carefully kept her out of view, and did nothing to help her. The witnesses understood the great importance of keeping up appearances in this company town, and complied.
"How'd you like to die in a house of mirrors
With nobody around to close your eyes?"
(John Prine, "Often is a Word I Seldom Use")