Have you ever cried at the death of a celebrity ?

I have, Bruce Forstyth.

He was a happy joyous man on TV for many Saturday evenings, during the bleak(for me) 1970s.

I didn’t cry but I felt a genuine sense of loss when Joan Rivers died. I still feel it a bit. Not really sure why, I wasn’t a JR superfan or anything, I liked her, saw her shows, thought she was great but when she died I felt really quite affected in a way I’ve never felt for a celebrity before or since. I wonder if it was because she was such a vital individual, she showed no sign of letting up, had an amazing work ethic and was still into her comedy and her fashion businesses right up to the last. And the circumstances of her death just felt very random.  She could have walked away from that medical procedure just fine like she had walked away from so many, and carried on performing for years but that time she didn’t. Someone screwed up and she died. It all seemed very wrong. Poor Joan 😔

I remember the day Terry Pratchett died. I got a text while I was driving home. I cried in the car the whole time. I grew up with his books and I still love every single one of them. I even was fortunate enough to meet him once and have a brief chat. It was kind of like losing my story telling granddad.
He was the only „celebrity“ I ever cried about tho…

I did shed a few tears when I heard about John Lennon because it was such a shock and he was my favourite Beatle.

The two deaths that made me very sad were Bowie and Helen McCrory.

I didn’t cry but I was upset when I heard of the deaths of Sean Hughes and Philip Seymour Hoffman, firstly because I’d met them and secondly because I just thought it was such a waste of life to go at such an early age.

Bobby Kennedy (even though I was working on his opponent's campaign), John Lennon, the Challenger crew, Princess Diana, Anthony Bourdain.

Yes Princess Diana really hit hard. I went to London that week to sign the book of condolence. I remember seeing Blood brothers that afternoon with Helen Reddy and it was so emotional. Victoria Wood was the other celebrity that hit me. Such a loss and so much more to give.

Certainly close to tears for Victoria Wood and David Bowie. Those are the two deaths that hit me the most.

Helen McCrory and last week Lata Mangeshkar

Absolutely re Victoria Wood. I didn't cry because I was at work but I could have done. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach for a good few days. 

I didn't cry, but was definitely shocked and very saddened when Victoria Wood died.

I did cry when John Inman died though. I'd worked a fantastic panto run with him way back in 2002/3 and he was such a wonderful man - a fantastic performer, and so friendly off-stage.

One of my pet hates is the fake celebrity culture, or phoney celebs, you know the ones that do the rounds as ‘celebs’ on reality shows.

Therefore, I didn’t cry but it still hit me much harder than expected when Jade Goody was diagnosed with cancer and she ‘cashed in’ in the most acceptable and loving way to raise money for her children’s future before she succumbed to this awful disease, At one time the whole world was against her, including myself, she was terribly mocked in the media, for her lack of intelligence. She died a greater, decent and humble person than most legitimate celebrities. That was a tough one to take.

More recently I felt very sad for Sarah Harding as I saw her in Ghost 3-4 years prior and she gave not a great performance in fact it was terrible, in a moment in the show she just starred across the audience in the stalls, completely helpless and vulnerable at that moment I felt connected to her and realised her performance wasn’t entirely her fault. When she died that again hit me hard, against to that terrible disease.

When Alan Rickman died I teared up a bit. Mostly I was in shock (even though he lost a lot of weight and cancelled movies and appointments in the few weeks before his death).