I knew Farrah was in bad shape but I'm in shock about MJ.

Both are a huge loss.

Nancy

And Ed McMahan died yesterday. That's three.

Sally

I heard about this on the radio when I was driving home. Wow.

I had read that Farrah was expected to pass away soon from cancer, but Michael Jackson caught me by surprise. He was only 50.

I'm so sad about both. I feel really bad. I felt like this when Princess Diana died too. I dont even know these people (in real life) but I feel such a loss. May they (all) rest in peace.

I just heard about Farrah, but was not aware that MJ had passed, too.

Linda

MJ- Of course there is more to his story. This morning's news has lots to say about cause of his death. Demerol/painkiller OD by an "in house" doctor is being talked about. Can you say "Anna Nicole"?

So sad about all 3, especially Farrah and the pain she had to endure.

The news of Michael's passing was a shock. I'm sure he pushed the limits of what his body could take, like Anna Nicole, Elvis and others. I feel so bad for his children. Their life must be odd to begin with, and now with their Dad gone, who knows. Sounds like their mothers were not involved with them. Were they his biological children? I was never sure.

Nevertheless, he was an amazing talent right from the start.

I do feel bad about Farrah. She was my age and I always kind of followed her career. She also got a little wierd. It's sad that her son is in jail. I think every one of Ryan o' Neal's kids ended up on drugs. What's with that??

Ellen I thought it odd that an autopsy would be ordered for a heart attack. It will be interesting to see what if anything comes of this. It's a shock that he's gone even if I never did really have the thought that he'd live to be old, being he seemed to have a lot of health issues, maybe some self created and others not. Someone else said something about him having Lupus so that could be behind it too. For someone in my age group whos watched and listened to him since we were both small children, it's almost like losing a friend you grew up with. It will be interesting to see if we ever are privy to what will become of the kids, sure as I am that someone of that stature in life had to have made all the proper provisions.

I feel bad that Farrah also had to die so young and suffer for an extended time. She made a lot of strides in her career even if her own life was up and down. I learned much about her from reading just yesterday. I of course was far more interested in the $6 mil man than her back in the day (LOL), but Charlie's Angels was fun and she was just such a pop culture icon.

I feel sorry for them both. Having lived in La-La land and once married to a wannabe-actor, I've seen first hand what the trappings of fame will do to people. And Michael was thrust into it very young. I am sure the weird childhood messed him up but good.

I hope Britney Spears has gotten better. It seems she was going down that same road of fantasy-world, head-games and predatory leaches.

Actually I'll tell you the truth - I believe Anna Nicole Smith and her son were murdered.

If it turns out Michael was killed be prescription meds, I hope something is done about these dangerous predatory doctors who will do anything for a buck. It really is the same as murder in my opinion. Maybe the courts should make it easier for family to intervene in an adult child's case and have the child committed. I don't know what the answer is. What a freaking waste.

I believe Anna Nicole Smith and her son were murdered

I've often thought the same thing.

I also wondered if Michael *asked* the "doctor" to put him out of his misery. But then again he had that tour scheduled... Oh I dont know.

Something's terribly amiss with the personal doctor siutation. Apparently he had gone missing, and I just read he's "back in LA" to be questioned re all this. It also said he was there when it happened. So, if you're someone's person doctor so much so that actually live with them, a) I can't believe he didn't have one of those shocking things knowing something like this could happen, and b) how are you sending him off to hospital and leaving town, rather than by his side doing what you're supposed to be doing.

This interview with Lisa Marie Presley is a must-read for those interested in Michael's fate:

He Knew...

She has always kept her private life private, so this interview is pretty raw.

Wow. Very enlightening.

Interesting thoughts here. Scott, I thought the same thing about the doctor, running back to his practice in Vegas...or was he just talking to an attorney? A cardiologist gives up his practice to be the inhouse doc for MJ? How weird/greedy is that? The Hippocratic Oath--first do no harm...

Gina, I think MJ murdered himself. Check out Diane Dimond's story--

Here is a link that might be useful: Insider.com

FWIW - an autopsy is done on an unexpected, suspicious and/or "out of hospital" death. In this case, since he apparently had no history of heart disease, it's even more important to find out what "really" killed him. The test results won't be final for many weeks.

Physicians that seem to latch on to celebrities seem to have lost any sense they may ever had, and sadly, too often end up being a party to the death of the celebrity.

Jackson's death is a loss for music, but I have very ambivalent feelings about him. My kids grew up with his music, but even they, now as young adults, aren't fans any more.

I would like to see an estrogen level pulled at the time of his death...better yet, the year before he died. He knew he was dying. Imagine a person going to such great strides to be the best they can be. Then not be willing to give it up when IT'S TIME!

I don't understand why MJ had a cardiologist by his side?? That throws this entire discussion in a different light.

I have heard (not knowing if this all is true) that he had told his family, through several interventions, in the last 3 years that he didn't know why they (his family) was so disturbed. He (MJ) said that he would be gone within the year...how sad. It goes to show how strong drugs can be over your family and children.

Not to mention that a person only knows what they know...if that be the case then the family let him down.

Can you imagine being raise in a bubble and no one ever telling you right from wrong in any instance? I've been disgusted by it all for many years.

I personally loved the entertainer, not the person he had become. He had some issues and he made a conscience effort and chose not to deal with the issues.

I will love him forever and grieve the loss of a remarkable musical legend in our musical industry. He is my age...I grew up with him, and I adore his music. I do aerobics to his music almost everyday.

RIP Michael, may you finally have peace.

I would like to see an estrogen level pulled at the time of his death...better yet, the year before he died. He knew he was dying.

I don't understand why MJ had a cardiologist by his side?? That throws this entire discussion in a different light.

I have heard (not knowing if this all is true) that he had told his family, through several interventions, in the last 3 years that he didn't know why they (his family) was so disturbed. He (MJ) said that he would be gone within the year...how sad. It goes to show how strong a drug can be over your family and children.

Not to mention that a person only knows what they know...if that be the case then the family let him down.

Can you imagine being raise in a bubble and no one ever telling you right from wrong in any instance? I've been disgusted by it all for many years.

I personally loved the entertainer, not the person he had become. He had some issues and he made a conscience effort and chose not to deal with the issues.

I will love him forever and grieve the loss of a remarkable musical legend in our musical industry. He is my age...I grew up with him, and I adore his music. I do arobics to his music almost everyday.

RIP Michael, may you finally have peace.

And Billy Mays, age 50, who died this morning at his home in Tampa makes four....Ed, Farrah, Michael, & Billy.

Orange Glo & OxiClean have lost a good spokeman.

This is getting odd.

/t

Karen, can you please explain about the estrogen level comment? I want to fully understand how it relates. What would they be looking for? Cardiac symptoms?

Dead is final. It's over, gone never to be with us again in the physical sense. Never to sing again, never to shock us, or confuse us...he's just gone.

Regardless of the issues that he had, clearly there were many, he's gone from the world as we know it. Gone......and there is something about that bothers me.

Maybe it's the passing of the icons of my life.....don't know but I do know that it makes me sad.

Speaking of icons, anyone who was a child watching tv in the '50's will be sad to hear that Gale Storm also has left us. That made me even sadder than Michael's passing. She did have a full life, but wow, did I love My Little Margie when I was a kid. Michael came along a little too late for me.

I feel sad for their families, but only my close friends and family members that have passed impact me to such a degree of total and unbelievable sadness. Movie stars, music stars, sports heroes....sad, but they never affected my everyday life and I can feel only so much for them. Especially people that had everything going for them, money, fame and luxuries most of us will never imagine, and then throw it away because of 'tortured' childhoods. Give me a break. We are all tortured to some degree.

I just got in on the last 45 minutes of an interview with MJ done by a black mad I didn't recognize. Done shortly after the baby dangling incident.
Strange...incredibly strange...claiming he had only had 2 surgeries on his nose while we are looking at closeups of his mangled face...claiming the children are biologically his and seeing the blond tops or their heads and telling us that Blanket's mother was not Caucasian.
That's what makes me sad.....that this wonderfully talented and vibrant boy/man turned into such a....unhealthy human being.

Okay, I have now heard enough about Michael Jackson and his weird family to last for the remainder of my life. I wish the media would give it a rest!

Ya mean all MJ all the time is annoying? Geez, how about talking about REAL news? I live moments from the "Encino Compound" where the Jackson's are holed up. The friggin street is BLOCKED off for satellite trucks (and this is a thoroughfare)and fans. Geez, on Saturday the surrounding streets were filled with cars so that one car might pass where there might have been two and a parked car. People can be such sycophants!

Pam- FYI Gale Storm also lived in Encino. I'm not sure if she did at the end, but she was a quiet resident and I don't recall seeing her around since I was a child. Nice lady-- I watched her shows in reruns!

Ellen, what a nuisance! I live a few blocks from where a basketball player used to live. Allen Iverson. There was some big media hoopla about him at some point. Helicopters were literally parked in the sky over our homes. It was thunk-thunk-thunk all day. Lots of gawkers drove in, too. Get a life.

Now I see where the bio-mother of the two older kids is admitting that MJ was not the father. Duh. (i am getting sucked into this nuttiness, too).

Sure knocked Jon and Kate off the front page! A different dysfunctional family to obsess about now.

No kidding! Not only was MJ not the bio dad, Debbie Rowe isn't the bio mom according to TMZ! (yeah, I admit I read it) Additionally, on the third kid, there's no mother listed on the birth certificate! How'd they do that? Did they amend the bc? I guess with enough money you can make anything legal!

"Movie stars, music stars, sports heroes....sad, but they never affected my everyday life and I can feel only so much for them."

I think I'm with Duane on this one. I can more understand mourning someone like John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, etc. who had kind of a spritual leadership thing going. Maybe even a news anchor or a Mr. Rodgers type who "spoke to me" every day for years of my life. But someone who's simply an entertainer? Doesn't really affect me. Good fodder for tabloid journalism, and it makes for light, mindless reading or viewing. That's about it for me.

My heart bleeds a lot more reading a three-sentence bit in the local paper about another loss in Iraq.

Stump, I totally agree. They interviewed one wacko on the local radio news who dragged her six year old daughter to the "Encino Compound" although the child didn't know who Michael Jackson was, she "sensed" someone important had passed. OY!

I'm not mourning. Okay, actually I'm mourning the passing of the cap-and-trade bill :-)

Oh Ellen, I'm sorry, I just saw your comment to me.
I was really being snarkey when I said made that comment above.
"I would like to see an estrogen level pulled at the time of his death...better yet, the year before he died. He knew he was dying. "
High estrogen levels in men will keep their voice stable like when they were pre-pubescent amongst other things ;-)I still say that if you have a Cardiologist by your side you know somethings bad wrong. I think he knew he was sick.
But....he was not the father of any of his children???

BTW, I bet it is a circus out in your area. The media will tear him apart and the yard too!

I will miss MJ's music and I feel very sorry for his children.

Oy, I'm feeling like this is an Encino curse! First MJ, then Gale Storm and now Fred Travelena-- a comedian who did a lot of opening acts in Vegas. 3 in one week is a bit much, dontcha think?

Karen, thanks for the clarification, I knew you were being a bit snarky, but i was curious what you meant about the Estrogen. Maybe that's why he didn't father those kids! LOL

Boy are we tired of this stuff around our house. My DW Christy works for a freight forwarder for the publishing industry. In other words they move books and magazines from publishers to distributors. Ok, so you can imagine the frenzy when MJ died. All the special edition magazines that are coming out. Immediately the next day they had orders that 8 magazines were coming with special editions on Michael Jackson and 2 on Farah Fawcett. Some of the amounts on the Michael Jackson mags are over a million copies. And of course they all want everything rushed. Christy had to work Saturday to figure all this stuff out and make sure it was ready to go. She's had to work late every night this week so far too. Too bad she's salary, lol. She never has to work late and I think the last time she had to work a weekend was ten years ago. Thank goodness she's on vacation next week.

I was quite sad to hear of Gale Storm. I loved both of her early shows. What a sweet beautiful woman. I was also very sorry to hear about Fred Travellina. I really liked his work. It was good that the other night they showed Farah's documentary about her cancer. At least she got 2 hours of tv time to herself that night. I had missed it the first time it showed so I was very glad NBC showed it in it's entirety.

Yeah, everyone wants a buck, and these days publishing needs to find it where ever they can. Agreed about Farrah's documentary, I hadn't seen it and managed to catch it when we were planning to watch a DVR'd program that it had pre-empted. She was a classy woman, despite her pain and Ryan's devotion was so evident. I also was very impressed with Farrah's BFF, Alana Hamilton, I never knew much about her.

"She never has to work late and I think the last time she had to work a weekend was ten years ago."

If I could say that of my career, then in this economy I'd be welcoming the opportunity to prove that I will go above and beyond to get the job done!

Yikes, maybe Michael was a eunuch. He certainly didn't have a problem with arranging his body parts to suit his needs. That would explain a few things.

Yes, Compumom, the publishing industry is taking hits like so many others. Her company is having major lay offs and salary cuts.

Foodonastump, I think I gave the wrong impression. Christy never complains, I feel bad for her because she's been taking on so much extra at work lately and her stamina never has come back like it was before her cancer. She's the go to person in her division and takes on whatever is given to her. I do understand what you're saying. There have been lots of layoffs at her company and today her direct boss was let go and her salary was reduced. By the first of the year she'll be down 18%. We do count ourselves lucky she still has a job even though with a one income family it is not going to be the easiest adjustment. I was just commenting on how the celeb death[s] made more work that isn't that easy on her. One can say they welcome whatever comes at them to prove their willingness but you can still only do what your body allows. But hey, she's my DW and I will always be concerned about her. Smiles.

Coconut - I think I "got" the wrong impression with several things I read yesterday. I should just keep my mouth shut when I'm in that kind of a mood. Sorry to hear about the pay cut. I kind of know the feeling because my benefits recently got cut significantly, and the benefits was a primary reason I accepted my job in the first place, already taking a 30% cut from what I had been accustomed to. Best to your wife.

I got this in an email the other day, and would like to share it with you all. Any death, for any reason, is sad, but let's keep our priorities straight.

"With no disrespect intended to the Jackson family, this sure does reveal the shallowness of our value system in this country.

This puts things into perspective:

While the focus today, tomorrow and for the next God-knows-how-many-days will be the death of a pop culture icon; while many will mourn, wail and quite literally make fools of themselves over it and while as many will speak endlessly about it, allow me, if only for a moment, to remind us all that others have died this month; others whose lives were cut short; others who leave behind loved ones and whose families will dearly miss them; families who'll suffer with much more dignity and honor than we'll be exposed to on the tube in the coming days.

Yes... it's true... we've suffered a great loss... but forgive me while I tell you that I'm not talking about the king of pop music.

These American military members died in Iraq this month:

Sergeant Justin J. Duffy
Specialist Christopher M. Kurth
Specialist Charles D. Parrish
Lance Corporal Robert D. Ulmer
Staff Sergeant Edmond L. Lo
Sergeant Joshua W. Soto
Captain Kafele H. Sims
Specialist Chancellor A. Keesling
And these members of our U.S. Armed Forces died in Afghanistan this month:

Sergeant Jones, Ricky D.
Specialist Munguia Rivas, Rodrigo A.
Command Master Chief Petty Officer Garber, Jeffrey J.
1st Sergeant Blair, John D.
Sergeant Smith, Paul G.
Staff Sergeant Melton, Joshua
Sergeant 1st Class Dupont, Kevin A.
Specialist O'Neill, Jonathan C.
Chief Warrant Officer Richardson Jr., Ricky L.
Specialist Silva, Eduardo S.
Lance Corporal Whittle, Joshua R.
Major Barnes, Rocco M.
Major Jenrette, Kevin M.
Staff Sergeant Beale, John C.
Specialist Jordan, Jeffrey W.
Specialist Griemel, Jarrett P.
Specialist Hernandez I, Roberto A.
Sergeant Obakrairur, Jasper K.
Staff Sergeant Hall, Jeffrey A.
Private 1st Class Ogden, Matthew D.
Private 1st Class Wilson, Matthew W.
Let's remember and honor this day those whose deaths are truly impacting.

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson

Rusty, thanks for that. I get tears in my eyes every time I hear of another young man losing his life overseas. They are truly heroes, and they are the ones who should be in our hearts and minds on this fourth of July and every day.

Me too. As I noted above. God bless them, their families, and everyone else who has sacrificed for us over the past 2+ centuries.

The last quote I could have done without, if only because it is completely outdated. But aside from that, a great sentiment.