The dazzling and glittery show business has a darker side. Many of the beautiful, famous, and rich celebrities also have a shadow side to their glamorous public persona. Fame doesn’t come easily. It’s often not free and asks for a heavy price. The stress, strain, and tensions that often accompany fame have their own negative side-effects on the personal lives of the celebrities.
That is why many famous people – singers, musicians, performance artists, and actors – fall prey to drug abuse. Drugs provide stressed out souls a temporary respite from their tumultuous lives. But these very drugs carry the danger of not just sabotaging the careers of these celebrities, but of wiping out their lives. The drug related deaths have not only snuffed out the lives of celebrities who were too young to die, but also shattered their families.
Here are some of the celebrities who died from drug overdose.
1. Michael Jackson
Popularly known as the king of pop, Michael died while lying in his bed at his mansion. His physician attempted to resuscitate him but his efforts proved futile. The singer died from the combination of drugs in his body, with the most significant drugs being the anesthetic propofol and the anxiolytic lorazepam. He was regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His physician was later on found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison. The pop icon had just announced a worldwide tour at the time leading to his death.
2. Whitney Houston
The songbird was found dead in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room just before the Grammy Awards in 2012. The singer was found unconscious with her body submerged in the bathtub. Whitney’s cause of death was drowning, but later on, cocaine was found in her system, indicating that the singer used the substance shortly before her death. Whitney was only 49-years-old.
3. Marilyn Monroe
The famous actress died in August 1962 in her Brentwood home. The troubled beauty, who became a prominent sex symbol in the 1950s, overdosed on tranquilizers, making it look like a suicide. Circumstances around her death have never been established, with some arguing that she did not commit suicide. Marilyn was only 36 at the time of her death.
4. Amy Winehouse
The singer/songwriter was found dead in her London apartment in July 2011. She died from accidental alcohol poisoning. Amy was known for her deep and expressive contralto vocals, which made her a success making her the first British woman to win five Grammy awards. She skyrocketed to fame as a result of the critically acclaimed Grammy Award-winning Album Back to Black.
5. Prince
Music icon Prince was 57 when he was found unresponsive in an elevator inside his Paisley Park home and recording compound in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, 2016. Health officials confirmed the Purple One died from an accidental drug overdose after he took what he likely thought was Vicodin. It was actually a counterfeit painkiller laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
6. Elvis Presley
Known as the “King of Rock and Rol’’ in the 20th century, Elvis died in August 1977 at 42. The I can’t help but fall in love singer was found unresponsive by his girlfriend Ginger Alden on the bathroom floor at his home and later on pronounced dead at the hospital. His cause of death was an overdose of prescription drugs, including codeine, valium, morphine, and demerol.
7. Alexander McQueen
In February 2010, Fashion designer Alexander McQueen died by suicide after ingesting a cocktail of prescription medicine and cocaine and hanging himself. Alexander was battling depression after his mother’s death which made him spin out of control by doing multiple drugs. The 40-year-old designer was known for making custom pieces for his celebrity clients, including Nicki Minaj.
8. Corey Monteith
The Canadian actor died at the age of 31 from a lethal cocktail of heroin and alcohol. He was found dead in his room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver. Corey shot to stardom after starring in the musical Glee as a high school jock who had a passion for music.
9. Kurt Cobain
The Rock icon died by suicide in April 1994 at his home in Seattle. His body was found three days after his death by an electrician who was installing a security system in the house. A suicide note was discovered nearby, which had traces of heroin and diazepam. He was the primary songwriter and frontman of the rock band Nirvana.
10. Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger, best known for his scene-stealing work in “Brokeback Mountain” and “The Dark Knight,” died inside his New York apartment on Jan. 22, 2008 from an accidental intoxication from prescription drugs, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine. He was 28.
11. DMX
The rapper (real name: Earl Simmons) passed away on April 9, 2021 a week after suffering a drug overdose, followed by a heart attack. The 50-year-old music star left behind 15 children.
12. Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman, on February 2, 2014 he was found dead in his New York apartment with reports claiming that a needle was found next to his 46-year-old body. It was later confirmed the father or three died from a drug overdose.
13. Mac Miller
On September 7, 2018, Mac Miller passed away from a drug overdose at his home in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Coroner later revealed that the 26-year-old rapper died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.
14. Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith died at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on February 8, 2007, and the cause of death was attributed to an accidental overdose due to taking a powerful sleep aid, chloral hydrate, mixed with prescription drugs including methadone, Klonopin, Ativan, Serax and Valium, among others.
15. River Phoenix
River Phoenix’s promising career was cut short when he collapsed and died of drug-induced heart failure on the sidewalk outside the West Hollywood, California, nightclub The Viper Room on October 31, 1993. According to the coroner’s office, Phoenix had fatal levels of cocaine and heroin in his body, as well as traces of marijuana, Valium and over-the-counter cold medicine.
