Life's labour lost...

A number of celebrities chased death when life gave them every reason to celebrate it. Is it out of emptiness in abundance, loneliness amidst the crowd of fans,  or listlessness in the middle of glamour, wonders  DOROTHY VICTOR.

On the morning of August 13, 2014, the world woke up in horror to read that the man who brought laughter to thousands of his fans worldwide killed himself because he could no longer find laughter in his own life. Robin Williams, versatile actor, brainy comedian and winner of several awards in the entertainment industry hanged himself in sheer despondency, ending his own life. Is this an isolated case involving an international celebrity? Absolutely not! Read on!

In 1961, on the Sunday of July 2, Ernest Hemingway, America’s most celebrated writer, took his double-barrelled shotgun that he used for shooting pigeons to kill himself. Drinking heavily and with failing health, he had lost all interest in life and driven to commit suicide.

On August 4, 1962, America’s most popular and successful model and actress, Marilyn Monroe, was found dead in the bedroom of her home. She was only 36 years old when she slipped into a coma and passed away due to an overdose of sleeping pills. Her last few years were known to be plagued by illness, personal problems and listlessness at work.

Our very own Guru Dutt, film director and actor, committed suicide by mixing alcohol and sleeping pills on October 10, 1964, the third of the suicide attempt that ended fatally.
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize, a renowned French actor and painter, shot himself on September 4, 1993, at 50 years of age, leaving a suicide note stating that he was despondent over health problems.

On April 8, 1994, Kurt Donald Cobain, lead singer and songwriter of the band Nirvana, was found dead at his home at a youthful age of 27 years. A man who was instrumental in taking Nirvana to high acclaim, had killed himself with a shotgun wound to his head, due to heroin addiction, illness and depression.

Mary Kay Bergman, American actress and animation voice-over teacher, was found dead on November 11, 1999 with a suicide note of feeling despondency over work at just 39 years of age.

Steven Paul Elliott Smith, American songwriter and musician, succumbed to the same malady of depression, alcoholism and drug dependence on October 21, 2003. He died very young, aged 34 years, from two self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest.

Brandis, American actor, director and screenwriter, was considered a teen prodigy at 17 years. Yet, by the time he reached his 27th year, he drank heavily and is said to have suffered bouts of great depression which eventually drove him to hang himself on November 12, 2003.

Bradley Edward Delp, American musician and lead vocalist of the rock bands Boston and RTZ, at age 55 years, on March 9, 2007, left a note saying “I am a very lonely soul,” and killed himself.

Marilyn Monroe, Robin Williams, Guru Dutt, Elliot Smith, Jonathan Brandis, Kurt Cobain, Ernest Hemingway, Brad Delp, Herve Villechaize and Mary Kay Bergman are listed as the top 10 celebrities of the world to have committed suicide among the hundreds of other celebrities who shared the same fate.

Welcome to the world of the rich and the famous who, out of emptiness in abundance, loneliness amidst the crowd of fans, despondency despite celebrity status, and listlessness in the middle of glamour, chased death when life gave every reason for them to embrace it.

The life that had gone to make the celebrity man, brick by brick, through sweat and blood, comes tumbling down like a pack of cards and is shattered like fragile glass. Just as the bees that hover in fear and desperation, hither and thither, when the hive so meticulously built is disturbed, the spirit of the man hit by the suicidal syndrome roams in vain looking for respite from thoughts of despair and death.

When there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, solace is found in that bullet shot ripping through the temples, or from the many sleeping pills gulped at one go, or at the end of a rope hung from the ceiling and tied around the neck. Time and again famous people, who to the rest of the world appeared to have put it all together, end their own lives raising several pertinent questions:

Why do these special people who are rich, famous and have the world looking up to them chase death? What crisis could people who belong to the elite, command admiration, and have every reason to feel good about this broken world be facing that they are driven to end their own lives? Is death really the only answer for celebrities who have lost all reason to continue their life’s journey? Are celebrities justified in pulling the trigger and calling it quits?

Behavioural scientists and spiritual thinkers analysing the lives and behavioural patterns of celebrities attempt to answer these questions. Their scrutiny, which reveals the build-up within the man who lacks nothing to the outside world, gives a set pattern and some insights on why “the rich and the famous commit suicide”.

The complex man

Man is a complex being of God’s creation. He is made up of the three different components of the body, the mind and the soul. Each of these components is interrelated and the well-being of one has a profound effect on the other. Yet, each of these components is unique with its own needs to grow, develop and sustain itself.

The body needs food and a relationship with the opposite sex. The mind demands knowledge. The soul requires a purposeful life and a strong spiritual connection. While the needs of the body and mind are tangible, those of the soul are in the intangible domain.

Body and mind is rugged and is built to withstand much difficulty and strife. The soul, however, is fragile, sensitive, and needs constant nourishing. Even so, its health is seldom given the importance it deserves. Its deterioration goes unnoticed and uncared for until it is on the brink of a collapse and complete disintegration. While a few just about manage to revive the soul at the right time, many, and invariably those among the rich and the famous, fail to make it and are left completely hollow on the inside.

This emptiness deep within can be so acute that the man looks for ways to destroy the soul which, in his mind, is now devoid of any life and spirit. The man committing suicide is in effect attempting to destroy his soul that has been left to die without any nourishment and care. Celebrities, despite having it all, end their lives too for the same reason.

The lives of celebrities who end their own lives are indeed as diverse as the professions they might hail from. Writers, painters, singers, songwriters, musicians, models and actors all have different beginnings and varied paths that have led them to stardom. Yet, all their lives are monotonously the same towards the end.

Once at the top, they get burnt-out, experience lethargy and listlessness leading to a loss of motivation in life. They try to pump in extra adrenaline through narcotics and other stress relievers and energy boosters. Slowly, these artificial enhancers invade their being. The body and the mind get dependant on these stimulants, making them helpless addicts. From superstars they stoop to alcoholics and drug addicts. Their system shows no ingredient of a healthy life. They remain totally detached from all that is healthy.

Besides, through their long and arduous journey to stardom, these celebrities miss out on human connections, lose family and friends, and alienate themselves from the common man. They journey through life as islands. Fred Allen rightly said, “A celebrity is a person who works hard all of his life to become well-known, and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognised!”

Unfortunately, for these heroes, the dark glasses block them of all the light that could illuminate their lives. Lights of happy family life and warm friendships go behind the grey clouds of work pressure, addictions, secluded lifestyles and exclusive celebrity status. The complex man gets even more complex as a celebrity, weaving a tenuous web around him and his soul. The knots that get entangled go beyond unfastening and cannot be severed without killing the man behind the bonds.

Paradox of plenty

Though man is described as a social animal, he has evolved as a greedy creature. The insatiable appetite for fame, money and power is an obsession, particularly for the celebrity. It keeps growing exponentially. Feeding this hunger, thus consumes him. In the single-minded focus on more money, more fame, more power and more possession, his quest for feeding this hunger seeps into every fibre of his being.

With this obsession, all his energy and time is tunnelled with demonical force into building a reservoir of wealth and fame. Plenty is perceived as something that will bring pleasure and security to life. Thriving to achieve this end, therefore, all other parameters in the equation of well-being are thoroughly underestimated and overlooked.

While money, power and fame come pouring in, disequilibrium in the wellness of the soul and spirit pervades the celebrity. This disequilibrium causes deterioration which, when not addressed, escalates into an irreparable situation growing out of hand for the celebrity to tackle.

It has now been proved beyond an iota of doubt that plenty and pleasure can never replace real happiness and contentment. Having much of worldly materials is no guarantee for satisfaction in life. Pleasure cannot bring lasting and permanent gratification. On the other hand, the reverse works true. Plenty is coupled with dissatisfaction. When a man has too much of material possessions, the blessing is taken for granted and is no longer gratifying.

Life sans purpose & love

Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, in his bestselling book Man’s Search for Meaning, chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in life, even in the most gruelling of circumstances.

Having narrowly escaped death by brutality several times, he observed that while many of his companions perished, others subject to the same cruelty at the hands of their captors survived the horrors of torture. After much rumination, he came to the conclusion that those who had no purpose to live died quickly.

But, those with a purpose to live, endured the same pain and survived. Whether the purpose was to be united with a loved one or a goal they wanted to realise, this purpose suffused their spirit with a will strong enough to endure the crisis.


It only becomes obvious then that those who have managed to have it all in life should also necessarily continue to chase a meaningful purpose to live. Without this purpose, life can turn into a dark gulf, making it bleak and grey.

Another element of life that can never be replaced is the element of love. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, recording his conversations with Michael Jackson, who died an untimely death at only 50 years due to an unhealthy lifestyle, reveals the superstar’s observation on love.

He writes, “Jackson turned to me and said these haunting words — ‘I think all my success and fame I have wanted is because I wanted to be loved. I realised I have ability, and if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them’.”

Rabbi Boteach reacts to this confession of Michael Jackson — “One cannot read those words without feeling a tremendous sadness for a soul that was so surrounded with hero-worship but remained so utterly alone. Because Michael substituted attention for love, he got fans who loved what he did but he never had true compatriots who loved him for who he was. Perhaps this is why, when so many of his inner circle saw him destroying his life with prescription medication —

... something he used to treat phantom physical illnesses which were really afflictions of the soul — they allowed him to deteriorate and disintegrate rather than throwing the poison in the garbage. Michael’s death is not just a personal tragedy, it is an American tragedy. Michael’s story was the stuff of the American dream, a poor black boy who grows up in Gary, Indiana, ends up a billionaire entertainer. But we now know how the story ends. Money is not a currency by which we can purchase self-esteem, and being recognised on the streets will never replace being loved unconditionally by family and true friends.”

When a purpose to live and love freely in life is lost, all is indeed lost. Much or little possessions will not matter. When man is in tremendous pain and he sedates the pain rather than treat its root cause by reconnecting with loved ones and finding a spiritual anchor, salvation is lost.

Death will be chased. The permanent solution of death to a temporary problem of unrest will be embraced. Man in desperation will reach out to God saying, “I quit, I’m not going to wait to be fired!”

It is damned to be so. One can only sympathise along the words of Doug Stanhope, who rightly observed, “Life is like a movie. If you’ve sat through more than half of it and its sucked every second so far, it probably isn’t gonna get great right at the end and make it all worthwhile. None should blame you for walking out early!”