Why Do Celebrity Deaths Feel So Personal?

Friday, April 22, 2016

Why Do Celebrity Deaths Feel So Personal?

Prince's untimely death Thursday at the age of 57 left fans shocked and in mourning. While many express their grief, others are surprised to experience a strong personal reaction: I didn’t know him, some have thought, so why am I this upset?

The truth is, there’s no rulebook when it comes to grief, explains psychologist David Kaplan, chief professional officer of the American Counseling Association. The emotion is so swallowing and vast that it’s hard to pinpoint why it manifests in the ways that it does. But just because we can’t explain grief doesn’t mean it’s invalidated, Kaplan says — and that especially goes for grieving a celebrity.

“We grow up with these people,” Kaplan told The Huffington Post. “We see their movies, we hear their music on a regular basis and we really get to know them. In a sense, they become a member of our family — especially the ones we really like — so when they die, it’s like an extended member of our family dies. It’s somebody we feel like we know.”

These deaths also feel so personal because they resonate with us on a deeper, psychological level. We may grieve celebrities because our dream was to emulate their career path or because a celebrity death can also remind us of our mortality, Kaplan notes.