When a celebrity dies, often times the fans he or she had are left grieving in a unique way. It might seem silly to be upset over the loss of someone we did not know personally. But how weird is it that a person the entire world once knew of is now just gone?
The death of our icons can hit us hard.
In an article by the Huffington Post, it is explained that grieving for celebrities is actually very rational. We gain a lot from our icons, but most importantly, we gain the confidence to be ourselves. Even if we may not know them on a personal level, we are able to see pieces of ourselves within the celebrities, and therefore feel a deep connection. Our feelings after the death of a celebrity is best summed up by this viral tweet:
Most recently, the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, better known as just 'Prince,' has left America hurting. In particular, the Minneapolis community has struggled with his death. Prince died in his Paisley Park home in Chanhassen, Minnesota on Thursday, April 21, 2016. In the photo below, you are able to see the Minneapolis community honor Prince at a popular music venue, First Avenue, on the evening of his death. Prince was born in Minnesota and died in Minnesota, and throughout his life, became a very important icon not only to the Twin Cities, but to the entire world.
There has been so much speculation about the circumstances of his death. It's been said that he was sick with the flu, battling other health issues or succumbed to a drug overdoses. Due to his extremely private nature, it is not clear just yet what the cause of his death was.
But much more important than Prince's death was Prince's life.
Prince grew up in a broken home and left it at a young age. He did not grow up in great conditions or the best circumstances, but he did not let that stop him. He wrote his first song at the age of 7, and taught himself to play numerous instruments by the age of 20. Growing up, he was bullied for health issues in school, and later told newspapers that he became as "noisy and as flashy as he could" to compensate for a painful childhood. He put all of his pain into his music, and created some amazing songs because of it. During his career as a musician, he won seven Grammy's, sold more than 100 million records, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Prince transformed the way we think about music today, and constantly broke barriers of what the public perceived as "normal."
Many celebrities were greatly affected by Prince's early death.
Artists such as Katy Perry, Celine Dion, The Weeknd, and others took to Twitter to express their grief of Prince's passing. However, it was not just other musicians that were affected. Other celebrities such as Neil deGrasse Tyson came out with moving words after his death.
All in all, the world is hurting together over the death of Prince. It takes an incredible celebrity to be able to bring all types of people together, so for that we must thank you, Prince. Thank you for the songs that helped us to know ourselves, thank you for the words that inspired kids to be themselves, and thank you, Prince, for helping to break down some of the barriers society puts on people.
