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.

I shed a tear when Terry Pratchett died. I loved him and the worlds and characters he created so much. Even worse when the character I loved most died in his very last book - I actually cried on the tube reading about Granny Weatherwax passing…seemed so prescient and poignant in light of Terry’s death. Daft I know!

I cried for days when Dunblane happened.

I felt grief when the Manchester Arena attack happened. But that was because it was my city and I suppose I was grieving for that rather than any of the people who had lost their lives. For them I obviously felt complete sadness but I wasn't grieving them personally.

I have a school friend who lives a long way from me but we speak and do video calls frequently their teenage child has recently died in terrible circs and I'm so sad for her. I wouldn't say it was grieving as such as not my tragedy but I'm conscious of their heartbreak and feel very sad about their loss and wish they hadn't died

DS was final year at Nottingham when the murders happened and he felt physically sick.

With Alexei Navalny, though, surely the grief can also be attributed to the fact that his struggle against an evil regime was thwarted, too?

Still feel sad about
Paul O’Grady
Steve Wright
George Micheal
Freddie Mercury
Karen Carpenter

Me too. DH cried a lot when the queen died! I just don’t get it? He’s not really an emotional person (apart from over dogs!!) it was quite out of character

When Arthur-Labinjo Hughes & Baby P died. I felt deep sadness and grief for weeks afterwards.

I have grieved for David Bowie, George Michael and yes the Queen. I think a part of it is not just the person but a whole part of your life and brings home that we are all going to die one day.

As many others have said, sadness yes, but not grief. Actually when I read the title of the OP, I didn’t think of famous people dying, instead I thought of relatives I think I ‘should’ have known and would like to have known, but never will get the chance to do so.

I’ve also felt sad at the deaths of various celebrities. Not grief, because I didn’t know them.

Yes I feel sad about Steve Wright too I think because even though he had the persona of a full of life happy man he had loneliness and depression and it's sad when he gave so much company to so many he could be lonely.
And Paul O Grady I loved his personality.
And Freddie I had a tear this morning when Bohemian Rhapsody came on unexpectedly. And I think the saddest thing with George Michael was dieing on Christmas Day alone, the irony and such a beautiful man.
Karen Carpenter I feel sad every time I hear the Carpenters

Prince.

I grew up listening to his music, bought every album, went to numerous concerts.

Wanted to quote this again as think it sums it up. Some of the replies on here are at best misplaced or at worst grotesquely self-indulgent.

Other than a momentary "that's sad" no. I've generally forgotten within a few minutes.

I don't know any of these people, and what we think we "know" about them is manipulated and curated by the media and their own PR.

Mark Hollis, Talk Talk.

I wanted to add that the morning after my late husband passed in 2018, I absentmindedly clicked the news on, on my phone.

There was this tragic case of a little girl. Her mom had popped inside the offices of the building she owned with her husband.

She had left the little girl for moments asleep. The little girl was 3.

The mom hadn't put the brake on properly, and the car was on an incline going downwards.

At the bottom was the river. You can guess the rest.

I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh, how is the mom ever going to live with that, and what a tragedy!" I felt sadness for the little girl, the mom, and their family.

It was momentary because it wasn't my tragedy as heartbreaking as it was.

Those who mention the Queen. I think it was the end of an era 99% of the population had lived with. She was part of a fabric we had all grown up with

It represented major change and instability. It will bring the end of the monarchy, I expect. That, though, is not for this thread

I've felt sad when certain celebrities or famous people died but not grief.

I've been a member of another forum for about 25 years though and felt genuine grief when someone off there died that I'd never met but had spoken to almost every day

I've felt sad, very sad, when certain people have died. I wouldn't say it was grief though.

I was a massive fan of one guy, and was in an online group his sister ran.

After he died I went on to offer my sympathies to her for her loss, and the amount of people on there who were trying to conflate her loss with theirs, or trying to get sympathy from her was ridiculous.

Matthew Perry genuinely upset me. I wouldn't call it grief but it was very much like knowing an old mate had passed away.

My daughters 4 friends died under awful circumstances last year, I'd only met one of them briefly but the grief was huge. I think partly because I was grieving for her and her loss but also their families

A friend's brother died about 35 years ago. The friend was not a close friend and I'd seen him once for a few minutes, he was about 5 years younger than her. He said something about having driving lessons the minute he was 17 ( I think his sister didn't drive and I was picking her up). Anyway a couple of years later a friend of a friend told me he had died of testicular cancer ( he was 18) and I was totally overcome with grief. I actually went to a card shop to buy a sympathy card and I couldn't stop crying. I'm not normally very emotional at all. I didn't even know his name!

I was the same when Luke Perry died. He was a bit of a crush of mine and we were the same age.

Not grieving as such but I was extremely sad when Kobe Bryant and his daughter passed away in such a tragic accident.

Only Princess Diana. I was in my 30s when she died.