I really thought we were going to go a day without a Benedict Cumberbatch story. Not so much. At least this one is nice… in the sense that Benedict did something genuinely nice, even though it was a really sad, tragic circumstance. A 14 year old girl named Eve Shepherd passed away, and Eve was apparently a HUGE Sherlock fan. The mourners at her funeral wore deerstalker hats. Benedict had heard about Eve’s passing (I don’t know if he was directly invited to her funeral or what), and he sent a short condolence note to her parents. The note was read at the funeral service.
Benedict Cumberbatch sent a touching message to a teenager’s funeral after hearing she was an avid Sherlock fan. The actor, who plays the detective in the BBC’s reimagining of the Arthur Conan Doyle character, wrote an open letter to the grieving family of 14-year-old Eve Shepherd recently. As hundreds of mourners – some in deerstalkers – celebrated her short life, the Oscar nominee said he was sorry he could not be there, but was filming a new series of the show she loved so much.
The 38-year-old’s moving words, which were read out at the packed funeral service, included: “I send my deepest sympathies to Eve’s family. To lose someone so young who fought for her health all her life must be beyond endurance. I hope they can take solace from the fact that she was clearly much loved and her support of our show is hugely appreciated and shall be remembered. I wish I could be there but sadly am filming the show she loved. God rest her soul. With all my love and sympathies, Benedict xxx.”
After Monday’s service for Eve, the procession left the church to the theme tune of the hit show.
It was a lovely note to write. Not to nitpick (who am I kidding?), but if the service was on Monday, Benedict wasn’t filming Sherlock then. He was recovering from the Oscars and Oscar parties and presumably continuing his California honeymoon-slash-Jaguar advertisement. I’m not saying Benedict should have dropped everything to go to the funeral, I’m just nit-picking about the wording of his note. Carry on!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
No snark at all, that was a lovely note to write.
Maybe he felt going would take away from the funeral and turn into some sort of circus, or possibly he just wanted to tie her favourite show into it somehow. I’m not going to fault him for this, he didn’t have to do it.
In fairness, he may have written the note a while ago (not sure when she died) and they read it out at the funeral.
Well if he went to her funeral than other fans would start expecting the same thing. It would probably get out of hand like when that kid made a YouTube video asking their fave celeb to go to the prom with them and when that celeb did, than others started asking other celebs and when Kunis ( at least I think it was her) rejected that one guys request everyone was trying to paint her up as terrible. Basically, fans would take things too far. So I can’t blame him for not going/coming up with an excuse.
I agree. I could easily see it spiraling out of control.
True, not to mention there’s a crucial difference between a prom and a funeral. One would clearly prefer to stay away from snarky gossip blogs in the latter case. The note was classy and enough.
I agree.
Re: Prom requests: I can see asking a celebrity for a ridiculous request on a lark and not expecting they’d do it. But IIRC, some of those fans really laid on the guilt.
Pretty sure that Eve actually died several weeks ago – I remember reading about it on Twitter – so he really was filming Sherlock then. Not sure why the news is just coming out now
What I got was she passed when he was filming Sherlock, early Feb. But they ultimately decided to plan a big service for her, so it took a few weeks. The family decided released the letter because they liked it and because they’re doing a donation drive in her memory for the hospital that cared for her for years.
That was a class act.
Ditto.
Regardless of any showbiz shade (and I really don’t think there was in this instance), it was a lovely gesture towards the young girl and her grieving family. I hope it brought them some comfort.
Thoughts and prayers to her family. God, 14. How terrible. There is nothing to say about how BC handled this-very kind gesture on his part.
Yes, it was thoughtful and kind. My heart goes out to those poor parents.
I’m surprised the latest pap photos have not been published in the DM yet.
Have they been published anywhere at all?
They’re waiting probably.
Very kind of B to do that.
That was a lovely thing to do. Something so small and simple but would have meant so much to her family. Can’t imagine losing a child. God, where are photos of kittens when you need them?
It was an incredibly kind gesture. No one is obligated to go to a stranger’s funeral. I feel sorry for the parents, but I’m sure the note meant a great deal to them.
And yes, picking nits.
Such a sad story, and he is a class act for sending a note.
I’ll salute this. Very classy.
My thoughts go out to the parents, I can’t possibly imagine what it must feel like to lose your baby, especially at the young age of 14. It was kind of him to write a note but I can’t help myself from side-eyeing it. He’s literally whored himself out for the last year and whatever he does I always think there must be an ulterior motive so even an act of kindness smells bullshitty coming from him.
I can see your point, but think of it this way: The family was moved by the note. Regardless of his motivations, it brought some comfort to the family.
I just hope this doesn’t become a thing that fans expect of him and other celebrities. It’s wonderful when celebrities reach out and help their fans, but it’s another when the fans say “What about me? I want that, too!”
Oh come on. That’s unfair.
I’ve been hugely sideeying these past few months but none of the reasons he’s given to warrant it suggest he’s not a nice, kind man.
@Green Girl Yes I supposed that is true. If the note made the family happy at such a horrible time his intentions really don’t matter.
@Kat Except for the blatant sexism that slips out whenever he is allowed to go off-script with his feminism schtick “he has a wife to keep in good clothes” “I’d marry Spock, he would make it a neat & tidy household”, calling an older extra an idiot on Black Mass set and other incidents that I’m to lazy to count. He thinks he’s the shit and I can’t see why people are buying it, to me he seems to be the epitome of self-obsession. Not that it’s unprecedented in Hollywood. He’s the male Reese Witherspoon.
I agree with Bea completely, why This particular story made the media makes me side-eye it Especially when skeptics were trying to stir rumors of his non baby. Nonetheless it really is kind of him to take time and write to the family. It shows he hasn’t completely abandoned all his fans. 🙂
I don’t know, what else could he say? He wanted to give a reason he couldn’t attend himself (which I agree he was not obligated to do, it’s nice he even had the thought) but he couldn’t really say “because I’ll be at the Oscars”. I think he said what he did to connect it to her in a way, through the show.
Very sweet gesture, I’m sure her family and friends appreciated it.
Well done, Cumby. That was a touching gesture to a grieving family.
This is what I remember and like to see (though I’ll probably always wonder a little bit if he felt obligated as opposed to genuinely moved to write the note).
Why would he ever feel obligated? I doubt actors feel obligated to write notes like this just because someone watches a TV show they are on.
Maybe he didn’t know when the funeral would be, but the general time frame would be during the shooting schedule, hence the excuse of being unable to attend. And I think the note from him is better than a personal appearance, anyway. A photo of them with him would just be tacky and they probably wouldn’t do it. The note the family can keep, cherish and reread whenever they want.
That was a really kind thing to do. I can’t imagine what her parents and family must be feeling right now.
I think attending the funeral would’ve gotten the press too interested, which is something I’m sure this family doesn’t need. It would’ve made the funeral all about Cumby. The note was classy, sincere, and I’m sure very much appreciated. The press would write small articles about it, fans would go “aw, that’s nice”, and we’d forget about it a week later while the family mourns peacefully.
Best wishes to Eve’s family and friends.
I remember this girl from Twitter. She was in and out of Gt Ormond St all the time. If I recall, Adam ackland tweeted her a few times. Very sad.
I don’t feel it would’ve been appropriate for him to attend the funeral; it’s a very personal time.
That’s how I’d feel anyway.
I think it was a nice gesture, and I would like to think it was sincere. It’s better this than going to the funeral too, the attention would be way too much at this stage and her fineral doesn’t need to be a media circus.
I’ve heard of celebrities doing this before, though not American ones – I remember a Korean pop star sending a letter to the family of a teenage fan who died in the ferry sinking last year, and maybe it was because of the nature of her death but that note was so raw, I almost cried reading the translation.
What a brave little girl.
It was very nice that he took the time to do this.
There are American celebs that do this as well. They just don’t have it published.
I am absolutely amazed that all of you have no doubt that Benny wrote this note himself! Do you think a letter from this girl or her parents reached him directly??? Of course not. Once upon a time I used to work in a capacity for high profile people. I wrote such notes not only for their fans but also wives and relatives. Was always amused when the client received such positive feedback on my words. A decent writer, just as a good actor, can capture the essence of a person’s personality on paper, just as actors do on stage and film.
Yes, he “could have” written the note, but I seriously doubt it. Instead, it softens the shitty anti-fan attitude he’s been displaying lately.
prob because he’s actually got a good track record with it comes to ill fans, and half of it i only know about because the some sick fans he’s met talked about it on social media.
But honestly whatever my sympathies to the family that’s more important tbh
I worked in entertainment management and agree that it’s likely not written by Ben personally, but someone on his publicity team. I presume that someone close to the girl reached out to Bendy’s team to tell them of her passing and his people responded with a lovely note to the family as a kind gesture AND good PR. Even if there were ulterior motives of distracting from the shotgun wedding/engagement and WTFery of his Oscar campaigning (the timing is suspect if it was sent weeks ago), I’m sure it meant a lot to the family.
It’s like a celeb giving millions to charity and then talking about it publicly. It does smack of trying to look good to other people. But while I side-eye them for it, I’m still glad they donated still.
This has got to be a record low in a BC post for the past year. Nice to see it wasn’t turned into something really negative.
Because they are so BORING. But, BC did a sweet thing so good on him.
What really worries me is that there is a girl I follow on tumblr who did Rays of Sunshine with B (it’s similar to Make a Wish) and I just hope she lives as full a life as she can. She had a great BC experience too.
Well I tried to post to the last thread about the kill notice and it disappeared immediately. Twice. Something’s up. But this thread is about a young girl who passed away. It’s about respect. Natasha raises a good point though
What was the kill notice?
They’ve apparently issued a take down notice for the order of service. Linz reported. My reply: Which raises some questions:
Why’s it taken a week?
They’re insinuating someone from their own wedding party leaked it. Crappy friends or they leaked it themselves and this is an attempt to make it look like their privacy was violated?
Why get pissy over this when they made public far more intimate things, like kiddie designer gowns with photos to boot. It’s a list of poems and songs for god’s sake
if the church was pissed someone rummaged through the trash or whatever, they can issue a notice since it’s their property. same for the first person to release the image of it on twitter. it’s not copyrighted, so bc&sh don’t really have the grounds here.
@J
The Church did not issue the Kill Notice/Kill Order it was Benedict and Sophie (Their Lawyer(s) The Daily Mail, News.com and other Tabloids/News Outlets have removed the photo.
Why not issue a kill notice to Joe Woolfe who tweeted practically everything except their preferred brand of toilet paper?
And almost forgot, if they didn’t realize it was Valentine’s Day why was My Funny Valentine part of the music?
And it might have been a closed thread. I also have no idea which thread you are talking about?
The way this is has all been going, they probably leaked it themselves and then issued the kill notice themselves as well. Since this whole thing has been going on, I think anything is possible. It’s kind of pathetic at this point. And your questions Claire! are totally correct. what has it taken a week and why get pissy now. You’d think he’s want out of the lime light and jut go away for awhile. Apparantly this is not the case.
They’re trying to make it seem like they didn’t leak it even though it’s moot at this point. It goes with him saying that she got pregnant after the engagement, which is preposterous unless she’s pregnant with quintuplets. They’re trying to make them seem less show-y. But, there was also a suggestion that the kill notice was just for that album because The Sun is the only outlet who has “exclusives” towards their wedding and honeymoon.
At this point, what difference does it make? Everybody who’s interested has already seen it. Is this ‘kill notice story’ even true? And who says a newspaper has to comply?
@Felice
“It goes with him saying that she got pregnant after the engagement”
He did NOT say that. He basically said “shotgun Wedding” without actually saying it. Watch the video again. After he said “before she became pregnant” he catches himself/panic correction.
The Kill Notice/Kill Order was not for an album, it was for the photo of the Order of Service/Wedding Program.
@Tsmiv2
Yes, it’s true. And the Daily Mail and other Tabloid sites/News Outlets have removed the photo (NOT an album. Just the photo of the Order of Service/Wedding Program). They don’t want to be sued over a single photo.
It seems they’re just trying to make it look like they’re concerned about their privacy. A little too late for that, Bendybatches.
It was a lovely gesture. Condolences to the family.
This lizard would do anything for some good PR.