According to multiple reports, Michael Jackson had a heart attack Thursday, June 25 in his home in Los Angeles. Paramedics were called to the house, and they arrived shortly before 12:30 p.m. Michael wasn’t breathing, so the paramedics began performing CPR. He was then taken, by ambulance, to UCLA Medical Center.

Around six p.m. tonight, TMZ confirmed Michael Jackson’s death. They claim Michael suffered cardiac arrest, and that the CPR performed on Michael at his home was unsuccessful. Michael’s body was taken to UCLA, where he was pronounced dead:

We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived.

LaToya ran in the hospital sobbing, after Jackson was pronounced dead.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.

Jackson had 13 number one hits during his solo career.

[From TMZ]

Michael Jackson was one of the biggest celebrities in the world. He sold millions of albums, entertained millions – if not billions – of people, and inspired countless others. He is survived by his three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 11, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 10, (both with second wife Deborah Rowe), and Prince Michael Jackson II, 6. It was known that he was in poor health in the past few years, but it’s shocking and terribly sad that he died so young. Prayers to his family, his kids, and his fans. Rest in peace, King of Pop.

Farrah Fawcett died this morning in at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Her longtime love Ryan O’Neal was at her bedside, as were several other of her closest friends. She has been battling cancer for three years, and has been in and out of several hospitals in that time. Earlier this week, there were reports that she was being hospitalized again, but I honestly thought it was most likely something routine. Farrah was 62 years old, and she is survived by her son Redmond, aged 24, and her fiancé Ryan.

I could go on and on, but People Magazine has a really great write-up on Farrah’s life and work, so here you go:

Farrah Fawcett, who skyrocketed to fame as one of a trio of impossibly glamorous private eyes on TV’s Charlie’s Angels, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 62.

Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST on Thursday at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif. She was with longtime partner Ryan O’Neal, friend Alana Stewart, friend and hairdresser Mela Murphy and her doctor Lawrence Piro. She had recently returned to St. John’s for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago.

“She’s gone. She now belongs to the ages,” O’Neal tells PEOPLE. “She’s now with her mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart. I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night. I told her how very much I loved her. She’s in a better place now.”

Added O’Neal: “She was with her team when she passed … Her eyes were open, but she didn’t say anything. But you could see in her eyes that she recognized us.”

Though O’Neal recently said that he and Fawcett planned to wed, they did not tie the knot. “There just wasn’t time and Farrah wasn’t in any condition to do it,” says O’Neal.

Friends and family plan to honor Fawcett with a funeral service at a Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles in the next few days.

Like so much about Fawcett’s life – including her bumpy relationship with O’Neal – her heroic struggle to beat the disease was closely followed by her legion of fans.

“I’ve watched her this past year fight with such courage and so valiantly, but with such humor,” Fawcett’s Charlie’s Angels costar Kate Jackson told People in November 2007.

O’Neal, in particular, remained a steadfast supporter of Fawcett, who, despite her frailty, spent the last months of her life filming a TV documentary chronicling her illness, including several trips to Germany to undergo experimental treatment. Fawcett is survived by her son with O’Neal, Redmond, 24, who is currently serving a jail term in California after repeated drug offenses.

Redmond was not there at Fawcett’s side when she died, but spoke to his mother on the phone and told her “how much he loved her and asked her to please forgive him that he was so very, very sorry,” O’Neal tells PEOPLE.

Blonde, blue-eyed and petite – and with a trademark mane as flowing and famous as the M.G.M. lion’s – the Corpus Christi, Texas, native was born Feb. 2, 1947, the younger daughter of an oil-field contractor and his homemaker wife.

A magnet for male students at the University of Texas at Austin, Fawcett eventually set off for Hollywood. Quickly noticed by casting agents, she began landing small parts in forgettable movies, such as 1970′s Myra Breckinridge, based on a gender-bending novel by Gore Vidal. Her role: an ingenuous blonde.

In 1973, Fawcett married actor Lee Majors, forever known as Col. Steve Austin on TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man. Three years later, she appeared in the cult sci-fi film Logan’s Run and began her stint with costars Jackson and Jaclyn Smith on Charlie’s Angels. Well-coiffed and scantily-clad, the threesome created an instant sensation, with a weekly following of 23 million fans.

Fawcett moved on after just one season. By then, she was already a phenomenon, having donned a one-piece red bathing suit and a perfect smile for her legendary pin-up poster, which sold a still-record 12 million copies.

“I became famous almost before I had a craft,” Fawcett told The New York Times in 1986, four years after her divorce from Majors. (By then, she was already involved with Ryan O’Neal.) “I didn’t study drama at school. I was an art major. Suddenly, when I was doing Charlie’s Angels, I was getting all this fan mail, and I didn’t really know why. I don’t think anybody else did, either.”

It took some serious dramatic TV roles, including that of a battered wife in 1984′s The Burning Bed (which earned her an Emmy nomination), as well as starring in small-screen biopics about pioneering photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White and ill-fated Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, for Fawcett to bounce back.

“What would you do if someone said to you, ‘You’re so popular right now that you can be on the cover of every magazine, but if you do that, you might get overexposed and a backlash will develop’?” Fawcett told The Times after she had emerged from one of the valleys of her career.

Still, she said of fighting for survival in Hollywood, “That’s life. Everything has positive and negative consequences.”

[From People]

That statement from Ryan, “She’s now with her mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart” actually made me choke up. This is very sad… rest in peace, Farrah.

Beloved TV personality Ed McMahon, who became a legend as Johnny Carson’s sidekick from 1962 to 1992, has passed on at the age of 86. He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Pam Hurn, three daughters, and two sons. McMahon suffered from bone cancer and was facing financial problems in his later years. His illness was said to have been worsened by mold in his home:

Ed McMahon, best known for his role as Johnny Carson’s No. 2 on the “Tonight Show,” died at a hospital in Los Angeles this morning, his agent said.

The 86-year-old TV personality and former late-night sidekick died this morning surrounded by his family at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California, his agent Howard Bragman said.

McMahon had a “multiple of health problems the last few months,” Bragman said, though he declined to name the entertainer’s cause of death.

A person close to the TV personality told the Associated Press that he had bone cancer, among other ailments, and had been hospitalized for several weeks.

Earlier this year, McMahon had been hospitalized in intensive care with pneumonia and other illnesses.
The famous TV pitchman — who is responsible for bringing the infamous “Heeeere’s Johnny!” line into the pop culture lexicon — has promoted a number of products through the years such as Budweiser, American Family Publishers’ sweepstakes and, most recently, Cash4Gold.com in a self-deprecating Super Bowl commercial.
McMahon also hosted the popular syndicated talent competition “Star Search.”

But the Hollywood legend fell on hard times recently and became embroiled in financial trouble.
His home was reportedly to be placed on the auction block later this month after he fell behind $644,000 on his $4.8 million mortgage.

He recently settled lawsuits against a hospital and doctors over difficulties stemming from the broken neck he suffered in fall of 2007. In 2002, he sued various insurance companies and contractors over mold in his house and collected a $7 million settlement.

[From NBC Los Angeles]

NBC LA has a phone interview with McMahon’s publicist. He says that McMahon “waged a very valiant battle, and lost his battle last night surrounded by his wife Pam… and people he loved…

“What I want people to remember is the man’s kindness, his dignity, his generosity. I want to remember really how he lived and how he touched so many people in this world. I really want that to be his legacy…

“I miss my friend…. He’s just one of the kindest people you’d ever want to meet.”

His publicist said he didn’t want to go into his health issues, and that he was an 86 year-old man with a lot of health problems. He also explained that it was Ed’s decision to go public with the news that he was losing his house, saying “‘I want to stand up and tell the world that I made a mistake and I spent more than I made, and I’m not alone in this situation. I want people to know that I can go through this and they can go through this with dignity and their head held high.’ That’s just typical of the type of person Ed McMahon was.”

That was very touching and well put. RIP Ed McMahon, you will be fondly remembered by so many people.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Radar Online has a new interview with David Carradine’s third wife Gail Jensen, who was married to him from 1988–1997. Jensen seems less than sober to me in the video, but that may just be how she comes across. She said she would often find Carradine tied up in the bedroom wearing only his Speedos, and that it was probably sexual but she didn’t join in and would just go about her business and bring him food when he needed it. He told her it was a form of meditation. As far as Jensen remembers, Carradine wasn’t involved in auto-erotic asphyxiation at the time she was married to him. He did like to lay in the pool with his face down and nearly drown himself, though. She has fond memories of the guy and said that she put up with his quirks because of all the great things they did together:

Gail Jensen, the third wife of late actor David Carradine, has revealed explosive secrets of the Kill Bill star’s sexual past.

In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, Jensen says that Carradine was often fond of tying himself up in the bedroom of their California ranch, and even experimented with drowning himself in their pool.

Check out exclusive photos of Jensen and Carradine’s 1986 wedding.

“He had his kinky moments,” said Jensen, who believed Carradine used the sex acts as a form of meditation.

These moments, which Jensen described as “magical acts,” included a fetish for Speedo bathing suits, as well as tying himself to bedposts or in front of the living room fireplace with belts and neckties.

Carradine was even fond of falling asleep while floating in their swimming pool, submerging up to three inches underwater before barks from the family dogs would revive him and prevent drowning.

In our exclusive clip, Jensen also describes tattoos and piercings that further quenched Carradine’s erotic appetite.

Despite his proclivities, Jensen maintains that “he was the love of my life and he always will be.”

[From RadarOnline]

This guy probably paid the ultimate price for his kinks, and after seeing this interview with his ex wife I’m inclined to believe that he may have been alone despite the fact that he was tied up. His family doesn’t deserve to have all these details made public, though. We all have things that we would rather be left secret. We may think they’re not this incriminating, but we still wouldn’t want everyone talking about them.

Meanwhile there’s news from the Thai police that their investigation should be completed within a month. They also say that they’re willing to work with the FBI, they just need a formal request from the US government.

There was a slew of news in the wake of David Carradine’s untimely death on Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand. The first reports indicated the man might have committed suicide. Then, the Thai police announced more specifics of Carradine’s death – namely, that he was half-naked and had a rope tied around his privates - and made it seem like his death was accidental, the result of auto-erotic asphyxiation gone too far. Some people around the Carradine family started making some noise about foul play, and there was even a rumor that Carradine’s hands were tied behind his back – but that was not confirmed by the Thai police investigating.

Perhaps the Carradine family wanted better answers than the Thai police were willing to give them, because they began asking publicly for the FBI to get involved in the Thai investigation. According to People, the FBI accepted the Carradine family’s request, and offered their assistance to Thailand’s investigators. The FBI can’t force their way in there, they have no jurisdiction, not even when an American dies in another country. Mark Geragos, who is representing Keith Carradine (David’s brother), said that Keith “wants authorities to investigate his brother’s death, and to determine if anyone else was involved.”

Geragos tells PEOPLE that Keith and other family members are finding the grieving process even more difficult because they keep getting conflicting details regarding the condition of Carradine’s body when it was discovered.

Thai police had confirmed that a maid found Carradine, 72, nude in the closet of his luxury suite with a rope tied around his neck and one around his genitals. “It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not, or he died of suffocation or heart failure,” said police Lt. Gen. Worapong Chewprecha, the Associated Pres reported. An autopsy was ordered because of the “unusual circumstances” surrounding the death, said Dr. Nanthana Sirisap, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital’s Autopsy Center.

For those who knew Carradine well, Geragos says the possibility that Carradine’s death was a suicide seems unlikely – he had a lust for life, a busy career and even a new sports car.

“The information keeps evolving, and that’s troubling them,” Geragos tells PEOPLE. He adds that although it has been reported that surveillance footage indicates no one entered or left David Carradine’s hotel room during the time he likely died, the family would like the FBI to review that evidence as well.

“It’s hard to start the grieving process when you don’t have all the information on what happened,” says Geragos. “Family members, including Keith and Hayley (DuMond, Keith’s companion), are frustrated and in shock.”

An autopsy has already been conducted on David Carradine in Bangkok, but a second might be done in the United States by the family, sources say.

[From People]

The Carradine family made some good points about the unanswered questions, and yet the Thai police just announced over the weekend that they had no need for the FBI’s help. Police Col. Somprasong Yenthaum told the media, “We can work with the FBI [if] they request and their request is passed (to us). But if they don’t come, we can do our jobs. I am confident we are working on the right track. US embassy representatives saw every step of the investigation process in the hotel room.” Radar is billing the story as Thailand denying the FBI, but I suspect the FBI will be let in and allowed to monitor the investigation, or perhaps even lead their own.

It’s even more likely that the FBI will be let in now that there’s a major controversy brewing over the publishing of crime-scene photos. Saturday, a Thai tabloid published crime-scene photos of David Carradine, in the position in which he was found. Mark Geragos spoke for the family once again, saying “The family is outraged about the release of these photos.” I only saw a small detail of one of the photos, but allegedly, David Carradine’s body is seen hanging, with his hands tied in front of his body.

David Carradine and his wife, Annie, are shown on 8/13/06 in the header and on 4/28/05 below. Credit: PRPhotos

Yesterday, a Thai newspaper confirmed that actor David Carradine had been found dead in a Bangkok hotel. The early reports indicated that Carradine had been found hanging in his hotel room, and that it might be suicide. Now Thai police have issued a statement that Carradine’s death was most likely accidental, not suicide. The Thai police claim that the particular way the body was found, half-naked, with a rope tied around Carradine’s neck and his penis, suggests auto-erotic asphyxiation. Several people close to Carradine have spoken publicly of their disbelief that he would consciously commit suicide, and this information seems to verify that:

Thai police sources NOW say David Carradine died from auto-erotic-asphyxiation “accident”!

The acting legend, 72, was in Thailand shooting film Stretch when he was found dead in his hotel room.

“He was found hanging by a rope in the room’s closet,” Lieutenant Colonel Pirom Jantrapirom of the Lumpini police station in Bangkok stated.

“There was a rope tied around his neck and another rope tied to his genitals, and the two ropes were tied together and they hung in the closet,” Lieutenant General Worapong Siewpreecha clarified today. “Under these circumstances we cannot be sure that he committed suicide.”

Thai police now believe Carradine’s death was a result of auto-erotic asphyxiation, i.e. pleasuring himself by self-induced strangulation inducing oxygen deprivation. A full autopsy has been completed but the results have not yet been announced.

“We are investigating from where he got the rope because it does not seem it was from the hotel,” a Bagkok official divulged.

Carradine had been staying in the Park Nai Lert Hotel since June 2. Producers became concerned when Carradine failed to show up at a dinner. A hotel’s maid then discovered a “half naked” Carradine dead in closet June 4 at 10 am

Preliminary police investigation indicated a possible suicide. Cops say he was dead for less than 12 hours prior to discovery with no sign of assault.

Family, friends and fans around the world were in disbelief that the star might have killed himself.

[From The National Enquirer]

I hope this is the last we hear from this situation. David Carradine seemed like a nice man, and a hard-working actor. It would be nice if this unfortunate incident didn’t get dragged out for weeks and months as the Thai police complete their investigation. As for the whole controversy about where David got the rope – well, I would suspect that this wasn’t his first time with auto-erotic playtime, so perhaps he brought the rope with him.

David Carradine, hero to every guy in the world, is dead today at the age of 72. The first report coming out of Thailand is that Carradine committed suicide in a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was about to star shooting a movie. Carradine was the star or guest star of more than 200 films and television shows – his IMDB page is huge. His most famous works include the television shows Kung Fu and Shane, and many of the younger people will know him from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2, where Carradine was brilliantly cast as Bill. Carradine was famously a practitioner and promoter of martial arts, like Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Carradine is survived by his wife, Annie, whom he married in 2004 in Malibu.

“Kung Fu” and “Kill Bill” star David Carradine was found hung himself in a closet in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said.

Police believed he committed suicide.

Carradine, 72, was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and stayed at a Suite Room 352 of the Park Nai Lert Hotel on Wireless Road since June 2.

The film crew were aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant on Sathorn Road on June 3.

Carradine did not show up at the dinner and the team could not reach him. They assumed that he took a rest because of his age.

It was a hotel’s maid who opened his suite on Thursday at 10 am only to find Carradine in a closet. He was described as behind half naked.

Police investigation showed that he hung himself with a rope, the kind that is used with curtains.

Police said he was dead for not less than 12 hours and found no sign of fighting and assaults.
Kung Fu Man

Aside from Quentin Tarantino’s twopart “Kill Bill” in 200304, Carradine was perhaps best known for his role as the fugitive halfChinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s easternwestern TV drama “Kung Fu”. He also starred in Martin Scorsese’s “Boxcar Bertha” in 1972, portrayed folksinger Woody Guthrie in “Bound for Glory” in 1976, acted in Ingmar Bergman’s “The Serpent’s Egg” in 1977 and costarred with half brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine in the 1980 western “The Long Riders”.

His father was the noted actor John Carradine.

In Thai cinemas, Carradine was recently seen as a martialarts guru in the Rob Schneider comedy “Big Stan” and as a perverted elderly Chinese mobster in “Crank: High Voltage” starring Jason Statham.

[From Thailand’s The Nation]

This report from Thailand is just the initial report, and it could be wrong on some or many of the details. Carradine’s manager Chuck Binder is already saying that he believes Carradine’s death was from natural causes, and not from a suicide as reported in the Thai press. Carradine was known in Hollywood circles as an utter professional, a good, decent, brilliant, funny man who simply loved to work and loved his fans. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

After spending more than an day at Phoenix’s St. Joe’s hospital, Mike Tyson’s daughter Exodus Tyson was declared dead at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday by the hospital. 4-year-old Exodus was found hanging from a treadmill cord on Monday morning by her 7-year-old brother. When Exodus was found at around 10:30 a.m. local time, her mother attempted to do CPR before emergency services arrived.

Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter has died, Usmagazine.com has confirmed.

“I was just advised by investigators that Exodus Tyson was pronounced deceased at 11:45 a.m. today at the hospital,” a rep for the Phoenix Police Department told Us in a statement Tuesday. “Our sympathies go out to the family.”

The boxer’s daughter was on life support and in critical condition after being found by her 7-year-old brother hanging from a treadmill cord, according to Fox News, which first reported the story.

Exodus was playing near the exercise equipment while her mother was cleaning in a separate room at 10:30 Monday morning. The mom sent the brother to look for her. After finding her in distress, he alerted his mother, who found Exodus on a treadmill with what has been described as a cable around her neck, according to police, who call it a “tragic accident.”

She immediately took the cable off her daughter, called 911 and began performing CPR. Exodus was taken to St. Joe’s Hospital.

Tyson, 42, flew into Arizona from Las Vegas after hearing of the incident. He was seen entering the hospital Tuesday morning.

[From Us Weekly]

I looked up Mike Tyson’s biography to see if I could find the name of Exodus’s mother. All I found was that Tyson had not married Exodus’s mother, and she remains unnamed in media reports. Tyson had four children: Exodus joined Mikey Lorna (born 1990) and Miguel Leon (born 2002, most likely the brother who found Exodus) as three out of four known children. Tyson also has two children with his second wife, a daughter named Rayna (born 1996) and a son named Amir (born 1997). Considering Mike Tyson flew into Phoenix as soon as he heard, I would suspect he was there for his daughter’s death. Our prayers are with the family at this time of their devastating loss.

Mike Tyson and some of his children are shown at Cannes last year in May for the premiere of his documentary Tyson. Credit: ANG/Fame Pictures

He was the reason David Cook auditioned for a little show called “American Idol” in the first place, and became the inspiration for the singer to keep competing week after week until he claimed the title last season. Today, David Cook is mourning the loss of his brother Adam, who battled brain cancer for 10 years.

Reigning “American Idol” champ David Cook stunned the crowd at today’s Race for Hope 5K in downtown D.C. by announcing his brother died the night before of a brain tumor — the cause that got him involved in the annual fundraiser.

Adam Cook, 36, a lawyer with a wife and children, had battled the tumor for more than a decade before dying in Terre Haute, Ind. David Cook joined 9,000 other runners this morning — finishing the 3.1 mile course in 28 minutes, he later said — before taking the stage. This year’s race, the 12th annual, raised $2 million for brain cancer research.

“I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now,” Cook said, getting briefly choked up and wiping away tears. “I’ve lost one but I’ve gained 9,000 ….. I will be here every year that they will have me.”

[From Washington Post]

Rumors that Adam’s condition had taken a turn for the worse started a couple of weeks ago when David suddenly canceled some tour dates. Fans of the show and of David know that the “AC” initials adorning David’s guitar all last season stand for Adam Cook. And when David made it to the American Idol finale, his brother’s friends raised money so Adam could fly to Los Angeles in a medically-equipped plane in order to see him perform and win. It’s a heartbreaking loss for David and his family.

Tom Cruise is said to be extending a helping hand to his wife’s recently widowed older sister. He wants to ensure that Katie Holmes’ sister Tammy has the support of her family, and has offered that she stay in his Beverly Hills Mansion with her two sons. From the way this story is worded, it’s unclear if Tammy is going to take him up on the offer or if she’s considering it. Her husband Jeff Freti died of a heart attack on April 12 at the age of 48. They were separated at the time and in the process of a divorce.

“Katie was so worried and upset for Tammy,” an insider told The Enquirer. “They are really close, and Katie wanted to help any way she could.

“The Tom came up with the idea of inviting Tammy and the boys to live with them. It meant Katie could keep a close watch on her sister and help her through this tough time.

“Tom really was a savior. He wants Katie to be happy, and he knew this would make it so much easier for her.”

The Holmes family was deeply touched that Katie and Tom, as well as Tom’s mom, were able to fly to Toledo for the April 20 funeral in spite of their hectic schedules, says another source.

When the burial concluded, Toma nd Katie stayed at the grave with Tammy and Jeff’s sons, 6-year-old Jack and 8-year-old Joe…

Added the insider: “The fact that Tom stepped forward and offered to open his home to Tammy and her boys was a great comfort to Katie, her sister and the entire Holmes family at this difficult time.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 11, 2009]

For all the things you can say about Tom Cruise, he does take care of his family and they seem important to him. He genuinely cares about people and that’s touching that he went to the funeral with Katie and that he wants to invite his sister in law to stay at his home. Tom’s mother and sister lived with him for years and he seems to like to have his family members close. That said, I bet Tammy isn’t going to be moving in with her sister and Cruise. She hopefully has strong support from friends and family in Ohio and won’t be leaving home. Her sons also have their friends and family nearby and she probably doesn’t want to uproot them.

It might be kind of awesome to stay in that gorgeous mansion for about a week, but Tom isn’t going to waste any time trying to convince Tammy and her sons to get involved with Scientology. It’s likely that everyone who works on the estate is a Scientologist and that’s got to be surreal to deal with. I’m picturing a scene from Tom’s film The Firm in which he’s suddenly struck by the reality that his plush home and sweet job all come at a very steep price.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are shown at the Japanese premiere of Valkyrie on 3/12/09 when she briefly had on that massive mop of fake hair. Credit: WENN.com