Losing a child means carrying almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.
We always see our favorite celebrities grinning into the camera lens, whether it's at a promotional event, a film premiere, or an awards ceremony. That's why it's so shocking when we watch their smiles turn to tears when tragedy hits. No matter how much ability, fame, or money celebrities have, nothing can shield them from the human truth of suffering and loss. That’s true! Celebrities are human just like everyone else. They also have difficult times such as mourning the loss of a loved one, especially their kids.
That mourning process becomes even more difficult when a loved kid is taken violently. Here are a few celebrities who have persevered after losing a family member in tragic circumstances.
#1 Bode Miller
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Olympic skier Bode Miller and his wife, Morgan, lost their 19-month-old daughter, Emeline, in a neighbor's pool in 2018. Since then, the pair has actively pushed to promote water safety in order to avoid the same incident from occurring to other families.
#2 Vanessa Bryant
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Vanessa Bryant opened up more about losing her husband Kobe and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna in a horrific helicopter crash on January 27, 2020. She posted an emotional video of Gianna playing basketball, and you can understand how tough it has been for her to cope with the heartbreaking loss.
#3 Bill Cosby
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The son of one of the country's most beloved television entertainers, Bill Cosby, was shot dead in 1997 in an apparently random attack along a lonely stretch of road in the Santa Monica Mountains. Mikhail Markhasev is presently serving life in prison for what appears to be a random murder.
#4 Pierce Brosnan
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Tragedy hit in 2013 when Brosnan lost his daughter Charlotte from the same illness that claimed Cassandra. Charlotte was just 41. At the time, Brosnan was filming spy thriller November Man in Europe but he rushed home to be with his daughter before she passed.
#5 Paul Newman
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In 1978, the son of Paul Newman, the actor, died early in the morning in a Los Angeles hotel room of an accidental overdose of a tranquilizer and alcohol. Allan Scott Newman, who was 28 old, was found in a room at the Ramada Inn in West Los Angeles, where he had been staying since last Tuesday, Police Lieut. Tim Wapeto said. He said the death was considered accidental.
#6 Mia Farrow
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It's terrible to realize that actress Mia Farrow lost not one, but two children. Lark Previn, her adoptive daughter, died in a hospital from AIDS-related pneumonia when she was 35 years old. Tam, another of Mia's adoptive children, died at the age of 19 from heart failure.
#7 Sylvester Stallone
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Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone, who has five children, lived through all of that happiness until he lost his son, Sage Stallone, in a cruel twist of fate, at the young age of 36. The Rocky star says there's no greater pain than losing a child. Stallone and his family have quarreled to come to terms with the loss of Sage, who died in 2012.
#8 Dr. Dre
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Andre Young Jr., the son of rapper and producer Dr. Dre, died of a drug overdose in 2008. At the time, he was just 20 years old. According to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, Andre overdosed on heroin and morphine, and his death was deemed accidental.
#9 Robert Plant
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The lead vocalist of Led Zeppelin had the most unexpected and devastating experience a father could possibly have when he lost a kid named Karac due to a stomach illness while Karac was just 5 years old in 1977. Plant's loss of his five-year-old kid was traumatic, as predicted, and even after a long period, he was profoundly broken by this sad tragedy.
#10 Joe Biden
Source: Joel Averbach
President Joe Biden has been through a lot. His then-wife Neilia and their 13-month-old daughter Naomi died in a vehicle accident while driving to get a Christmas tree in 1972. Both of the couple's boys were in the car at the time of the accident, but both survived. Biden lost one of those sons, Beau, to brain cancer in the summer of 2015.
#11 Prince
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The late Prince and his first wife Mayte Garcia had a son together named George, who was born with Pfeiffer syndrome and passed away just a week later in 1996.
#12 Jack Wagner
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The former General Hospital stars' 27-year-old son was found dead in a parking lot, according to a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner report. He was thought to have taken an overdose. His parents later stated that he had "lost his battle with addiction" while working to create a scholarship fund in his honor at a men's recovery residence.
#13 Granger Smith
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River Kelly Smith, the youngest son of Granger Smith and his wife Amber, died in June 2019 as a result of "a horrible accident." The couple, who have two other children, London and Lincoln, donated their son's organs to aid other youngsters in need."The joy he brought to our lives cannot be expressed and his light will be forever in our hearts," they shared.
#14 Eric Clapton
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Guitarist Eric Clapton's son Conor was just four when he was killed after falling from an open window of their 53rd floor Manhattan apartment. His death inspired Clapton's heart wrenching song 'Tears In Heaven'.
#15 Anna Nicole Smith
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Starlet Anna Nicole Smith never recovered from the death of her beloved son Daniel, who died of an overdose at the age of 20 only three days after the birth of his little sister. Anna Nicole would die only a few months later.
#16 Adrian Peterson
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Adrian Peterson, a former Chicago Bears running back, lost his son AJ after a valiant seven-month struggle with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. The 7-year-old kid died in February 2015, less than a year after being diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor.
#17 Hunter Tylo
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The Bold and The Beautiful actress Hunter Tylo lost her 19-year-old son Michael in 2007. He had suffered from seizures and during one such episode he fell into the family pool, tragically drowning.
#18 John Travolta
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John Travolta and Kelly Preston were devastated when their 16-year-old son Jett died while on vacation in the Bahamas in 2009. Jett was autistic and had Kawasaki disease, which causes seizures. He died after having a seizure and banging his skull on the bathtub.
#19 Vince Neil
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Skylar, Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil's daughter, died of cancer at the age of four in 1995. Following her passing, the singer established the Skylar Neil Memorial Fund, which has subsequently raised millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research.
#20 O.J. Simpson
Source: Julie Jacobson
O.J. Simpson was engaged in one of the most famous sports-related fatalities in American history. In 1994, he was arrested and accused with the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown. He was subsequently acquitted, but many remain skeptical of the NFL legend's innocence. Simpson, though, had endured the devastating loss of his young daughter in 1979, before the death of his wife. She was just one year and eleven months old.
#21 Keanu Reeves
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Jennifer Syme, Keanu Reeves's girlfriend, gave birth to a stillborn daughter called Ava Archer Syme-Reeves in 1999. Syme died in a vehicle accident 18 months later. The couple was divorced at the time, but the two losses so close together had to be heartbreaking for Keanu.
#22 Mike Tyson
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Exodus Tyson, Mike Tyson's daughter, died at the age of four from unintentional asphyxiation, or strangling. Her body was discovered by her 7-year-old brother, who discovered her with a tangled treadmill cord wrapped around her neck.
#23 Nick Cannon
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Zen, Nick Cannon's 5-month-old kid, died towards the end of 2021 after being diagnosed with brain cancer not long after his birth. Zen's illness was unknown to fans until Nick announced his death, hence his death came as a surprise.