Bizarre Things That Never Made Sense About These Celeb Deaths
When it comes to celebrities, stories of untimely death are almost always the stuff of intense media speculation and drama, but there are some cases that are just plain perplexing to the watching world because the details don't quite add up somehow. With these 10 celebs, the stories about their final moments have yet to make any sense, and here's why.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (born: Norma Jeane Mortenson) had a multitude of documented personal and mental health concerns going on when she died at the age of 36 from an overdose of barbiturates in her Los Angeles, California on August 5th, 1962, and her death was officially ruled a suicide by investigators. However, there are many who still, even half a decade later, believe that there was more to the story than the public really knows about.
There are certainly some questionable facts surrounding the investigation which support the theory that her death may have been staged. For example, emergency personnel were said to have found no water glass with which she would've consumed the substances that supposedly killed her, medical examiners weren't given access to the body for hours after her discovery, no pill residue was found in her stomach (suggesting that she may have been injected), and her phone records, a diary, and even untested tissue samples went missing.
Was RFK involved?
As a result of these investigatory oddities, some conspiracy theorists maintain that her death may have been ordered by eventual Senator Robert F. Kennedy, with whom she'd reportedly had an affair, to cover up their dalliances along with her rumored tryst with the then-sitting President John F. Kennedy. Those speculators point to the fact that if she were to expose her political entanglements it would threaten to destroy the legend of Camelot. Others believe that a governmental organization like the FBI or CIA might've had a hand in her demise as a means of punishing the Kennedys for the disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion or that the Kennedys themselves may have conspired with the Communist Party or the local Mafia have her poisoned.
Suspicions also arose about the possible involvement of Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, who was reportedly called to the scene by Monroe's concerned maid and first found her deceased. The theory is that Greenson and the maid may have done the deed of laying her out with the pill bottles posed suggestively at the financial bidding of RFK's brother-in-law Peter Lawford, who knew of the affairs and wanted to protect the family legacy from such a damaging high-profile scandal. No matter who's responsible for her death—even if it was Monroe herself—there are certainly some unanswered questions that will continue to haunt the tale of her death for years to come.
Natalie Wood
Any time a high-profile actor dies of any cause, it's probably going to make national news, but when it happens on the set of a film under dramatic and mysterious circumstances, the story becomes absolutely legendary. Such was the case with actress Natalie Wood, who drowned on November 28, 1981, during a boating trip to a California island while taking a weekend getaway from the set of Brainstorm with her husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken.
Her death was officially declared an accident at the time. Investigators believed she fell from the boat's dinghy in the middle of the night and was unable to climb aboard it (as evidenced by finger nail scratches on the side of the small vessel) because of her blood alcohol level and the weight of her coat. However, the investigation was reopened in 2011 after new evidence emerged that the captain of the ship, Dennis Davern, lied to police about a fight that had occurred between Wood and Wagner the night of her death. Wagner himself had admitted to arguing Walken about Wood's career on the night of her passing in his 2008 memoir Pieces of My Heart, but denied any involvement in the incident.
Wagner wrote that the cause of her fall off of the Splendour (the name of their yacht) was "all conjecture. Nobody knows. There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened."
Davern's new statement, however, insisted that Wagner's argument with Walken was not about her career but rather, he slammed a bottle of wine down on the table in front of Walken and screamed, "Do you want to f*** my wife? Is that what you want?" According to Davern, it was then that Walken went to his room and Wood and Wagner began their own "terrible" spat. He added that their argument moved from the stateroom to the deck and that Wagner was even heard telling her "get off my f***** boat." Davern then claimed he went up to the surface several minutes later, where Wagner told him that his wife was missing.
More facts cast more doubts
Other facts that added up to call Wagner's story into question were: the prevalence of fresh bruising on various parts of her body; the fact that the the dinghy's keys were turned to off and the gear was in the neutral position while the oars were still strapped down upon discovery; her unprepared attire—she was dressed in a mere nightgown, socks, and a down jacket, indicating that she most likely was not attempting to use that dinghy to make an escape, even though she was found to be intoxicated at the time of her death; and the fact that she was notoriously afraid of deep water. As a result of these facts, many suspect(ed) foul play landed her in the water that night, despite Wagner's insistence of innocence.
Another report that raises eyebrows is one that came from neighboring boaters, on a vessel called the Capricorn, who said they heard a woman screaming for help, followed by a man's voice which assured, "Okay, honey, we'll get you." The couple overhearing the supposed conversation said they believed it was a joke at the time.
Whether or not the full facts of the night of Natalie Wood's death will ever come to light, one thing's for sure: the tabloids are still scouring sources for further details because there is still plenty of interest in the curious case to this day.
Brittany Murphy
The death of young actress Brittany Murphy in her Los Angeles, California, home on December 20, 2009, was precarious and shocking all its own, but the story has become even more of a mystery thanks to subsequent events. The then-32-year-old actress' death was considered by officials to be the result of natural and accidental causes at the time—she reportedly suffered from pneumonia, anemia, and a toxic mix of over-the-counter and prescription medications—but what made her passing even more bizarre was the fact that her husband Simon Monjack died under very similar circumstances just a few months later.
Murphy's estranged father Angelo Bertolotti sponsored his own laboratory investigation into the matter in 2013 and reported finding high levels of toxic metals in her hair follicles which may have suggested poisoning was involved in her ultimately fatal physical condition. A rep for the Los Angeles County Coroner concluded that the metal levels were probably the result of her hair coloring routines and declined to reopen the investigation on the grounds of this new evidence.
Was her husband involved?
Bertolotti wasn't the only one who believed that Murphy's death might have been more than a mere accident, however. In fact, even after he died of similar circumstances, many believed that Monjack may have been instrumental in his wife's death, pointing to his notorious financial woes and public personality hang-ups. He, however, told The Hollywood Reporter he believed she died of an actual broken heart over being rejected by the Hollywood industry. There were also some suspicions that toxic mold may have played a role in their passing—Murphy's mother Sharon Murphy even initiated a lawsuit over the lack of investigation into that possibility—but one thing's for sure: there are plenty of people who don't take the official cause of death determination at face value when it comes to how Brittany Murphy passed.
Kurt Cobain
The death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain on April 5, 1994, in his Seattle, Washington, home was declared a suicide based on the mountain of physical evidence discovered by police at the scene. However, conspiracy theorists have picked apart the details of the case for decades over suspicions that Cobain's wife Courtney Love or another actor may have been involved in his shooting death.
Evidence supporting the idea that Cobain's death may have been the result of a suicide act include the fact that he purchased ammunition for the shotgun just days before the incident occurred, he wrote a lengthy suicide note to Love and left it on the scene, and he struggled with drug abuse, including the use of heroin, around the time of his passing.
But what about Love?
However, theorists have suggested that Love may have forged the note—as evidenced by reported practice sheets found in her bag and the fact that certain lines may not match the others in style or tone—and she may have hired someone to kill Cobain. One man named Eldon Hoke reportedly claimed Love approached him with an offer of $50,000 to kill Cobain for her. Others, including her own private investigator Tom Grant, believe that she and her former live-in nanny Michael Dewitt may have conspired to kill Cobain together.
Grant wrote that some of the little-known circumstances which indicate Cobain was murdered include the fact that he and Love were in the process of ending their marriage and that she'd exhibited some vengeant behaviors before the incident, that Cobain's credit card was missing and used after the time of his death, that his fingerprints weren't found on the gun (and it wasn't even investigated until weeks later), and that his bloodstream had three times the lethal dose of heroin, which may have made it difficult, if not impossible, for him to actually commit suicide, especially using the lengthy shotgun he'd reportedly purchased for home protection. Grant, among others, has been actively dedicated to having the case reopened by Seattle police due to the many inconsistencies he's found in the original investigation.
Bobbi Kristina Brown
Even though Bobbi Kristina Brown wasn't a traditional celebrity before her untimely passing at the age of 22, the fact that she died in such a similarly disturbing manner as her mother—the iconic singer Whitney Houston—was enough to put her atop every news feed in the nation. The only daughter to Houston and her ex-husband Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina Brown was found face-down and unresponsive in the bathtub of the home she shared with Nick Gordon—who grew up with brown Brown and became her live-in love interest once they both reached maturity—on January 31, 2015, with several drugs in her system, including marijuana, alcohol, and morphine. She remained in a coma for several months before eventually dying in hospice care on July 26, 2015. The medical examiner's report did not conclude whether her drowning was accidental or intentional, but the scene was disturbingly similar to what was uncovered just a few years earlier with her legendary mother. Houston, too, had been found face-down in her hotel bathtub with several drugs in her system, but her death was ruled to have been an accidental drowning.
Brown's estate insisted that Gordon was responsible for Brown's death and that he had long abused and taken advantage of her during their time together. Her estate also claimed Gordon was responsible for giving her a cocktail of intoxicating substances and then submerging her into the water, which caused her to suffer ultimately fatal pneumonia and brain damage. He was declared by a judge to be legally responsible for her passing in September 2016 in a wrongful death action and was later ordered to pay $36 million to her family. The eerie similarities to her mother's passing, however, apparently remains a coincidence, even if some conspiracy theorists see an obvious possible link between their deaths and the fact of Gordon's involvement with both scenes.
Heath Ledger
The death of actor Heath Ledger in the exact moment of his prime—he'd just completed the performance of a lifetime in The Dark Knight and fathered his first child, Matilda—was tragic enough on its own, but there's reason to believe his passing may have been more devastating than it already was. Ledger's death was ruled as an accidental overdose from conflicting prescription drugs, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.
However, many wondered how the 28-year-old celeb had come into the mixed meds that took his promising life. His prescriptions for sleep medications were found to have been legitimate, but how he obtained the Oxycontin and Vicodin that were found his system was unknown. According to The Mirror, a member of the Drug Enforcement Agency was perplexed by the lack of containers for those medications onsite and theorized that they could have been illegally obtained by Ledger or purposefully removed from the scene. Federal authorities even subpoenaed child star-turned-fashion designer Mary-Kate Olsen, whose home he was thought to be staying in at the time, about the case, although she said she had no idea where the drugs came from.
The most unusual element of her involvement was how many times her masseuse called Olsen before paramedics were phoned, along with the fact that she sent her own security team to the scene before authorities arrived. While his own father assured that all responsibility for the overdose belonged with Ledger alone, saying that his sister warned him about taking pain medications with sleeping pills, some have found that the details surrounding Ledger's death are no joking matter and that foul play may have been involved.
Michael Jackson
The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, was found dead at the age of 50 in his Los Angeles home on June 25, 2009. His death led to the conviction of his doctor, Conrad Murray, for involuntary manslaughter after his prescribed sleeping medications, including surgery-grade propofol, were determined to have led to his demise. Murray claimed to have discovered Jackson's body in his hotel room and attempted to perform CPR on him with one hand—which was not considered standard emergency procedure—before calling authorities.
Somehow, the process of dialing for medical assistance was delayed due to a supposed lack of landline access and confusion over the address, so about half an hour passed between Murray's discovery and when emergency personnel were finally alerted to his condition. Authorities were just as confused by Murray's accounting as the public and ultimately determined that the doctor directly contributed to Jackson's death. He was sentenced to two years jail time but was released in 2013.
Anna Nicole Smith
The February 8, 2007, death of Anna Nicole Smith (born: Vickie Lynn Hogan), who inherited millions from her late husband and became and a national name, is perhaps best known for the widely publicized paternity suit which ensued after her death over custody of her infant daughter Dannielynn—between her ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, the biological father, and Howard K. Stern, the man named on her birth certificate. However, there were plenty of question marks regarding the circumstances of Smith's passing that may have been swept under the public radar rug over time.
For one thing, her initial autopsy failed to determine the cause of her death, as there were no signs of trauma or illegal drugs in Smith's system at the time. Eventually, coroners determined that Smith had taken a sedative called chloral hydrate, which combined with the prescriptions she was taking for anxiety and sleep issues, proved fatal. Smith had reportedly already been ill with a fever and stomach flu and took the lethal medications of her own free will, but many were suspicious of Stern's motivations in accompanying her on that final trip to the Bahamas and why he agreed with her decision to refuse treatment for her myriad health issues. There were also questions about the length of time it took for emergency authorities to be summoned to her home, as well as the odd similarities between her son Daniel's passing and her own, with many believing that Stern orchestrated both deaths in order to claim Dannielynn's inheritance, as her legal father.
Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur
Although their lives and deaths were distinct, many fans believe that the deaths of competing rap legends Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. (f.k.a. Christopher Wallace) were both the result of the same strand of gang-related violence that plagued the hip-hop community in the '90s. Both iconic artists were gunned down in drive-by shootings—Shakur in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 13, 1996; and Wallace on March 9, 1997 in Los Angeles, California.
Shakur was in the passenger seat of Suge Knight's car the night of his murder, and the pair were reportedly set to attend a Mike Tyson fight that night. Knight was a notorious member of a gang called the Bloods and was said to have assaulted a member of the competing Crips gang before the shooting. Some found that certain moments of Shakur's posthumous album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, may have foretold his untimely passing, and as a result, there are many who believe he may have faked his own death. Biggie Smalls' death nearly six months later in a similar roadside shooting incident was also blamed on the Crips, but some conspiracy theorists believe that the his murder may have been orchestrated by a rogue Los Angeles Police Department officer alongside Knight, who believed Biggie was responsible for Shakur's death (a theory which was subsequently supported by allegations that Smalls offered gang members money to kill Shakur prior to his death). Whether and to what degree the east coast and west coast gang rivalry was entrenched with their blood is a mystery for history, but there's no doubt that their deaths were not acts of incidental violence.