The Tragic Death Of HSN's Marilyn Miglin
Home Shopping Network star Marilyn Miglin died on March 14, 2022. According to ABC7 Chicago, the cosmetics queen passed away at home, surrounded by family and loved ones. Miglin was 83 years old and is survived by her two sons. Refinery 29 reports that the longtime TV host became an HSN fixture, first appearing on the channel in 1983 and using her soaring fame to help grow her business empire.
It developed into a $50 million luxury beauty company, expanding to include skincare products and a wide range of fragrances — all of which Miglin regularly promoted on the shopping network. According to her website, 65-million viewers tuned in to watch Miglin's HSN appearances, and she was among the USA's "top-500" female entrepreneurs. Miglin's most famous perfume, Pheromone, still remains one of the country's top 10 best-selling fragrances.
She wasn't all about the business, however; Miglin was big on giving back to the community. She worked with burn survivors and people who had facial disfigurements. Miglin was also a champion of fellow female entrepreneurs from her native Chicago, mentoring and supporting them in their business ventures. Sadly, however, Miglin was perhaps most famous worldwide for being the widow of the multi-millionaire property developer, Lee Miglin. He was murdered in 1997 during a killing spree by the infamous serial killer Andrew Cunanan, per the Daily Mail.
Marilyn Miglin's heartbreak and loss
Marilyn Miglin was forced to relive the tragedy after Ryan Murphy's "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" was released in 2018. The drama series told the story of Andrew Cunanan's murders, and Marilyn's husband, Lee Miglin, had been his third victim. Cunanan eventually took his own life after killing Gianni Versace outside of his South Beach home.
Per Newsweek, Marilyn was played by Judith Light, and it wasn't an entirely accurate portrayal. The fictional Marilyn was "controlled and dignified" following news of the murder. While the real Marilyn was controlled — and even criticized for not grieving publicly in a manner some people thought she should have — she did open up during a public press conference shortly after the brutal slaying in a more emotional way than Light did on the show. However, the widow was criticized for dining in a Chicago restaurant two days after Lee's death, telling The Chicago Tribune she channeled her grief into her work.
Marilyn came under fire again when she resumed her HSN gig three weeks later. Marilyn told The Tribune that she had refused to play the part of a victim. "I will not let one evil force run my life," she explained. "I won't acquiesce to that. Not ever." Marilyn shared that she didn't believe she would ever get over the murder. Still, she would eventually adjust to being a widow. "I lived the life of a fairy princess and I had a prince for 38 years, and then one day my prince went to war and didn't come back," Marilyn said.