Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What is the first celebrity death you remember?

174 replies

ClassicStripe · 03/07/2025 18:33

My daughter has been asking lots of questions about today’s tragic news (a boy at school told her about it) and it made me think this is probably the first celebrity death she has taken note of and will probably be the first one she remembered. The first celebrity death I remember is Princess Diana. I was about the same age DD is now.

OP posts:
CMOTDibbler · 03/07/2025 20:04

Elvis - I was (very unusually) at my grandparents, and their copy of The Sun came through the door, and Nana came into the back room holding it up.

Hanovercrosse · 03/07/2025 20:04

John Lennon, I was 6

wendywoopywoo222 · 03/07/2025 20:05

Elvis. I was at guide camp and the older girls were really upset crying in their tents. I didn’t have a clue who he was at the time or why they would’ve been upset about someone dying that they didn’t know.

Jamjams · 03/07/2025 20:06

Diana Dors in 1984 but had no clue who she was. River Phoenix was the first death that really upset me because he was so young

artant · 03/07/2025 20:07

My first thought was Bobby Kennedy but other posts here have reminded me about Churchill.

Mostly though I’m surprised to realise that Marc Bolan died the same year as Elvis. In my head Bolan was years earlier. Clearly my memory is very flawed even when it comes to someone I was kind of obsessed about as a young teen.

MsTada · 03/07/2025 20:08

Princess Diana. I remember that the kids TV programmes weren't on because news reports were on instead, and I remember going into my parents room to complain and them being completely shocked.

I also remember my mum drawing the curtains and lighting a candle when the funeral was on TV.

(Edited to correct typing error)

alexdgr8 · 03/07/2025 20:10

Senator Robert Kennedy.
I remember a splash on news stands in the Edgware Road coming from buying summer clothes in Marks and Spencer.
It was shocking.

Godesstobe · 03/07/2025 20:18

Mario Lanza in 1959. Our next door neighbour was an obsessive fan and I could hear her crying hysterically. She pulled all her curtains and went into mourning for a week, playing his records over and over again. I was only 4 and had no idea who he was but I was deeply impressed and I remember my mother and her best friend saying she had gone crazy and that her husband had said he was going to leave if she didn't get out of bed and start doing the cooking and washing again.

ImthatBoleyngirl · 03/07/2025 20:20

River Phoenix then John Candy.

TheWibble · 03/07/2025 20:20

Freddie Mercury

MissAmbrosia · 03/07/2025 20:21

Elvis. I was 9 and we were on holiday in Spain. Everyone seemed totally shocked. Though of course he was so young still.

GameOfJones · 03/07/2025 20:23

Princess Diana for me too. I can clearly picture my mum coming into my bedroom and telling me, I'm pretty sure it was the school summer holidays and I was going to a friend's house. I can remember her mum and my mum crying about it.

DontTouchRoach · 03/07/2025 20:26

John Lennon. I was only tiny at the time but I remember my mum being quite upset about it.

Galaxyandcadburys773 · 03/07/2025 20:27

Freddie Mercury

NorthernDancer · 03/07/2025 20:29

Michael Holliday. No-one remembers him now, but he was a big star and I would have been about five when he took his own life. Until then I had not realised this was an option.

VerbenaGirl · 03/07/2025 20:31

My first thought was Elvis, but I’ve just looked the date and I think I’d have been too young. So after that is John Lennon. Other vivid ones are Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Princess Diana (my hen night!). DD is at Uni and she was at the Student Union when news of Liam Payne’s death came through. They switched the music off and put the light on to break the news and it was quite a big shared moment. She wasn’t a fan but her older DS was.

Bluebay · 03/07/2025 20:32

Kennedy.
I remember seeing it on the 6 O'Clock News and running into the kitchen to tell my mother. It's hard to put across what a shock it was at the time - can't think of a more modern equivalent.

Avantiagain · 03/07/2025 20:33

Elvis. I remember my dad talking about it. The next one I remember was Lord Mountbatten.

Borka · 03/07/2025 20:36

Petra, the Blue Peter dog

Floisme · 03/07/2025 20:36

JFK. It was the first time I saw my mum cry.

Lonelycrab · 03/07/2025 20:38

Princess Diana for me too.

I remember my partner at the time, after the speculation with the car crash and whether they’d survive, joked that the Sun newspaper the next day should run the headline:

Dodi and Di do die

Loafbeginsat60 · 03/07/2025 20:39

Diana I think

mintydoggyv · 03/07/2025 20:42

Someone in the black and white minstrels , when we had black and white tv

Kimwestonhelpless · 03/07/2025 20:42

I said Elvis already but one that hit me was one of the Mcwhirter brothers who got killed by the IRA.
I was an avid watcher of record breakers.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 03/07/2025 20:42

Diana for me too. I remember my stepmother coming into our bedroom to tell my sister and me.

Just asked DS and he claims to remember Maradona (he doesn’t, he was 5) but his real one is the Queen.

Swipe left for the next trending thread