Multiple well-known persons have been through a lot of heartbreak. Some famous people have lost many loved ones in tragic accidents, while others have battled a string of health problems themselves. Three members of the family of a famous singer were killed in a tragic incident. This list of well-known persons whose lives have been touched by tragedy is roughly ordered by the extent to which their names are commonly known.
Amongst all of these, Sofia Vergara is our favorite. Rafael Vergara, sister of "Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara, was killed in Bogota in 1998. Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000, and her younger brother Julio was deported to Colombia following an arrest in 2011.
1. Jennifer Hudson
Source: Getty Images
Darnell Donnerson (57) and Jason (29), Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother, were shot dead in 2008 by William Balfour, Jennifer's estranged brother-in-law. Hudson's nephew Julian, age 7, went missing and was discovered three days later dead from numerous gunshot wounds. Balfour received three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of release after his conviction in 2012.
2. Marlon Brando
Source: Getty Images
Christian Brando, the son of Marlon Brando, fatally shot Dag Drollet, the lover of his pregnant half-sister Cheyenne, in May 1990. Christian admitted guilt and served five years in jail for manslaughter. During his trial, Cheyenne Brando made two suicide attempts. Cheyenne committed suicide by hanging herself in 1995 at the age of 25. She had recently lost custody of her son, Tuki.
3. Sofía Vergara
Source: Getty Images
Actress Sofia Vergara of "Modern Family" is no stranger to adversity. Rafael, her brother, was killed in Bogota in 1998. After being treated with iodine radiation for her thyroid cancer in the year 2000, Vergara made a full recovery. Her younger brother, Julio, was arrested for drug use and deported to Colombia in 2011.
4. Kanye West
Source: Getty Images
When Kanye West was just a teenager, he was in a serious vehicle accident that almost took his life and left him with a broken jaw in 2002. Donda West, his mother, died unexpectedly from complications following plastic surgery in 2007. "It was like losing an arm and a leg and having to walk through it," West recalled his mother's death.
5. Anna Nicole Smith
Source: Getty Images
After her husband, J. Howard Marshall II, passed away in 1995, and Anna Nicole Smith became a widow at 27. Her son, the twenty-year-old Daniel Smith, overdosed and died in 2006. Anna Nicole Smith tragically overdosed on dug on February 8, 2007, less than a year later.
6. John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Source: Getty Images
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, Sr., the father of John F. Kennedy, Jr., was murdered. Assasination of his uncle Robert Kennedy took place on June 6, 1968. David Kennedy, his cousin, was just 28 when he overdosed on a combination of cocaine and the pain relievers Demerol and Mellaril.
7. Kelsey Grammer
Source: Getty Images
Kelsey Grammer's dad, Frank, was murdered in the street when he was 13. Karen Grammer, Grammer's sister, was kidnapped, sexually raped, and ultimately murdered by serial murderer Freddie Glenn in 1975. Grammer's twin half-brothers, Billy and Stephen, drowned in a scuba mishap near St. Thomas in 1980 when he was only 25. His best buddy, David Angell, was on American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.