To ask if you have ever grieved for someone who’s passed away who you have never met?

[Acapulco12]

It seems strange, I know. I don’t think this has ever happened to me before, but at the moment, I think I’m feeling all the usual stages of ‘grief’ for someone whose death I read about in the news and who I’ve never met. It’s very strange and unexpected. I just wondered if anyone else has ever had anything like that.

No, not real grief. Sadness yes.

I always feel really sad that Amy Winehouse passed away. Whenever I hear her songs, I really miss her, and think about her long after the song has finished.

It’s always the kids for me. Arthur Labinjo-Hughes really affected me.

I don’t even grieve for family. Emotions shot to fuck.

I cried for three days (on and off!) when John Peel died, but not when my Grandmother passed.

He'd been on my radio almost daily for decades with his good-natured, slightly offbeat chat and really had an input in developing my music taste and dry sense of humour.

I'd never considered the possibility of him just not being there any more.

It really does depend on many factors. I didn't really cry when my MiL died last year ( well that's not entirely true, I did on the phone to his sister when she phoned me as DP was at work and she wasn't sure whether to wait until he got home,) but that was shock, I think, as it came out of nowhere. And at the funeral I didn't as I was on it for him, his dad and sister.

But for my ex landlady, I'd lived in the flat above her for 4 years, she hosted my wedding, I'd known her kids since they were in primary, yes. She'd seemingly recovered from a brain injury and it came out of the blue. The family speeches at the wedding nearly set me off, but when they asked all of us to sing along to her favourite song, Alison Krauss's I'll fly away, that was it. Gone. She had so much va va voom, and I cried for that loss to the world.

Her daughter gave daffodils in pots to us all,.and every year it reflowers, I cry.

Grief is a funny thing.

Hind Rajab. I cried a lot.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68261286?amp%3Bat_campaign=KARANGA

Yes. Princess Diana. I had a busy work/social life at the time and didn't really think about her that much, But when she died I reacted in a way I hadn't anticipated.

I think she'd been omnipresent at the time and I really felt her loss - to this day it makes me incredibly sad to think about it.

I watched the first two episodes of the last season of The Crown, which chronicles her death, with my two teens, and even they were crying. I think the show really conveyed how magical but tragic she truly was.

Hind Rajab’s death was devastating. It was so upsetting to read about it. I also felt very sad about the death of Alfie Steele in Droitwich.

Too late to edit, but speeches at the funeral, obviously. Clearly her loveliness re the wedding sticks in my mind.

Oh yes, Kurt Cobain, I was a teen and a huge fan.

Sarah Everard, her murder was so horrific and unsettling.
I can't quite comprehend that her last few hours on this earth were with pure evil and the torture he put her through.

Sarah Everard wasn't grief as such, but horror in that I would have done the same thing if a policeman had showed his warrant card. There but for the grace of god etc. It could have been any of us who trusted authority, and should be, and are now, I hope, more sceptical.

DH and I both had our father's pass away before we met and got married.

DC do often wish they could have met their grandfathers. They love their grandmothers but do wish they had a grandad

What Sarah Everard went though was terrible and shocking. When I heard about what had happened to her, I remember feeling the same way you describe here and thinking that her final hours of life must have been spent in utter terror. It makes me so angry to think of what she suffered and what her family and friends are going through since her completely preventable and traumatic death.

Her family have also always come across as extremely dignified, which has impressed me, given the huge weight of the grief they have to live with.

On a side note, the Angiolini inquiry - which was set up to investigate how a police officer was able to murder Sarah Everard - was released today and it can be accessed here if you’d like to read it - https://iipcv-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/E02740018_Angiolini-Inquiry.pdf.

Me too. I’m sure I would have complied in the same sort of situation as I wouldn’t have known any different. It’s a tragedy that it’s only after Sarah Everard’s completely preventable death that we’ve learned what rights we have when we’re stopped by a police officer.

Not grieved as such but was very upset when the Queen and Prince Philip died also Caroline Flack.

I was rather more upset about these deaths than I expected to be , The Queen and Alan Rickman.

Yes. I stupidly read about the James Bulger case when my eldest was little and had a week of crying every day, feeling genuine grief. I was in bits. Also when I read about baby p - I accidentally came across that and again got immersed in the details. I now avoid reading anything involving young children even though my DCs aren’t babies anymore.

I was devastated when Deborah James died. I didn't know her in person but had listened to her regular podcasts, read her book and newspaper column. Her story and strength and courage really helped me through my own 'journey' through cancer.
What I have been through is nothing in comparison to what she and her family went through.

No.

Of course it’s sad when people you admire die before their time, particularly if the circumstances are tragic. Deaths which particularly saddened me include Ayrton Senna, George Michael & Amy Whitehouse. But I didn’t know them, and their deaths were not about me.

Grief is for their loved ones, not for people who never met them. Fake, vicarious grief comes across as empty virtue signalling at best, or at worst cynical attention seeking by grief vultures, exploiting the tragedies suffered by others for sympathy & ‘likes’.

I felt very sad when she died too. I read one of her books (How to live when you could be dead) shortly after she died and it’s excellent - I highly recommend it. It’s got very good practical advice in it for how to manage challenging times in your life. I thought she was incredibly brave and I loved her optimism and sense of humour.

I often feel a sense of grief over people (and animals) who die young or in horrible circumstances. It's why I usually avoid the news when I'm not in a good headspace.

I completely agree with this. I think this is the key bit that resonates with me when I think about people’s deaths who have moved me the most but who I don’t know on a personal level - it’s sad when people you admire die before their time, particularly if the circumstances are tragic.

Without wishing to sound inappropriately grandiose or over dramatic, I’m curious about whether Navalny will become a Martin Luther King-like figure, or perhaps JFK, for our times. I wonder whether, in 15 or 20 years, we will see his death as comparable to other historical figures who were assassinated for their beliefs. I’m not sure if this will happen though, because I obviously Martin Luther King and JFK’s legacies were encouraged and celebrated, whereas whilst Navalny’s legacy might be encouraged outside Russia, we know that it will be suppressed inside Russia.