Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)



Marilyn Monroe, in those days, was an extremely famous actress and socialite, much like Paris Hilton, but from an older era, to an even larger scale. She was the biggest name in Hollywood, having a star role in numerous critically and commercially successful films throughout the 1950s and the early 1960s. She had a very difficult childhood, living in foster homes and constantly moving. Her mother had psychological problems, and her father was nowhere to be seen. She was able to overcome her past, however, and become one of the most iconic and recognizable women in history. She became a sex symbol, and a relatable, vulnerable person for the world to adore.

She was married at a young age, but when her new husband went overseas for the United States Navy, she was offered a modeling gig and started to pursue a career in acting. When her husband got back, he asked her to choose between marriage and acting, and shortly after the couple divorced. She then changed her name to Marilyn Monroe (she was born as Norma Jean Mortensen), dyed her hair blonde, and became a movie star. She was hooked up with Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankee great, for a dinner date, and the two fell in love. She was the ideal Hollywood celebrity. She was young, beautiful, and married to a famous athlete. But she had a rough past and was relatable to the general public. Everyone wanted to be like her, and teenage girls around the world dyed their hair blonde and tried to be like her. To this day, Marilyn Monroe is still someone who is looked up to. She was the ideal celebrity, but unfortunately her life didn’t end the way most would have expected.

With her enchanting voice and perfect body, Monroe became a star who everyone wanted to be, even thoughmarilyn-monroe-then she personally had self-esteem issues. She had a serious mental condition where she would get anxiety attacks before appearing on set. This would cause her to show up late a lot, which made the casts and directors of the movies she was in angry and confused, but it also became one of her trademarks. Monroe would star in many films, but she was commonly displayed as a dumb blonde, which she didn’t like.

Monroe moved to New York City to escape the usual roles thrown at her and also to study the art of acting more. She acted in many more movies in different roles than she had before, gaining more critical success than she ever had.

What happened to Marilyn Monroe?
She died August 5, 1962 in the bedroom of her Brentwood, Los Angeles, home. The actress was found dead by housekeeper Eunice Murray, who called Monroe’s psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, before alerting authorities. She was 36 years old at the time of her death.At the young age of 36, she died of a drug overdose. However there were speculations of sucide or the murder.Police broke into her home after family and friends had been unable to contact her for days. They found a bottle of sleeping pills next to her still body, empty. Her death had become an interesting study. It is unknown if her death was intentional, by herself or someone else, or accidental. Michael Jackson, the iconic singer and dancer, died in a similar fashion. Both died of drug overdose, but no one knows why.

Some say that she was murdered. At the time, she was close with President of the United States John F. Kennedy as well as his brother Bobby Kennedy, and many think that her relationship with them made her a target, and someone poisoned her pills. Others suggest that she committed suicide, and that while on the outside she was a fun loving, wild, and happy young girl, she was still haunted by her past on the inside and had demons no one knew about. There are other theories that suggest that she accidentally took too many sleeping pills, and simply died accidentally. Some conspiracy theories are really out there, saying that the CIA or Mafia had a hand in the murder. Most likely, however, the high life of being a celebrity, her publicly stated anxiety and self-esteem problems, and her past demons took a hold of her, and when she was unable to escape from these; she took her own life in a painless, fast way.



marilyn-monroe-primeAfter her death, she was lowered into a casket (which was a Cadillac casket, one of the most expensive caskets one could possibly buy, but it was fitting for such a revolutionary and iconic star) and buried, while wearing a dress she often said was her favorite. The funeral was small, as only friends and family were there. But the whole world was in shock. Their beloved actress, Mrs. Hollywood, the most relatable yet vulnerable celebrity there was, was no more. However, one could argue that she still did exist, as she continued to live on as inspiration for the next wave of actresses and Hollywood stars, and all the movies she played a part in continue to be re-mastered and watched to this very day. Her former husband, Joe DiMaggio, would go to her grave with red roses for the next twenty years following her death, and it goes to show just how impactful she was as a person.

Monroe’s films made over $200 million dollars, and her impact still looms largely over cinema. Even to this very day, Monroe is considered to be the world’s most popular symbol of beauty and sex. She is remembered for her conniving nature and wittiness. Popular celebrities Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Lady Gaga all model their looks and personality off of Monroe, and they try to replicate her charm. Many books and films have been created based on her life, as well as countless documentaries on her life and mysterious death. The world hasn’t been the same since she died, as the sad event shook it to its core; however she has inspired a whole new generation and will continue to. Marilyn Monroe was everything cinema wanted, and then some. Her charming, carefree personality was a great one that surely won’t be forgotten for as long as civilization stands.

The Early Deaths: Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina Brown



Whitney Houston Bobbi Kristina Brown at The Ckive Davis And The Recording

Whitney Houston was an American singer, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time. She is one of pop music's best-selling music artists of all-time, with an estimated 170–200 million records sold worldwide.She released six studio albums, one holiday album and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts, as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", has influenced several African American women artists who follow in her footsteps.

Whitney Houston, known as America’s Sweetheart, sold more than 50m records in the United States alone during her career. Her voice, an ideal blend of power, grace and beauty, made classics out of songs like Saving All My Love For You, I Will Always Love You and The Greatest Love of All. She earned six Grammys and starred in the films The Bodyguard and The Preacher’s Wife.

On February 9, 2012, Houston visited singers Brandy and Monica, together with Clive Davis, at their rehearsals for Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills.That same day, she made her last public performance, when she joined Kelly Price on stage in Hollywood, California, and sang "Jesus Loves Me".

Two days later, on February 11, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, submerged in the bathtub.Beverly Hills paramedics arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. PST. The cause of death was not immediately known. Local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent." On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County coroner's office reported the cause of Houston's death was drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use".The office stated the amount of cocaine found in Houston's body indicated that she used the substance shortly before her death.Toxicology results revealed additional drugs in her system: diphenhydramine, alprazolam, cannabis and cyclobenzaprine. The manner of death was listed as an "accident".
Bobbi Kristina, then 18, was at the hotel and became so hysterical she had to be hospitalised. “She wasn’t only a mother, she was a best friend,” she later told Oprah Winfrey



Houston had an invitation-only memorial on Saturday, February 18, 2012, at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. The service was scheduled for two hours, but lasted four. Among those who performed at the funeral were Stevie Wonder (rewritten version of "Ribbon in the Sky", and "Love's in Need of Love Today"), CeCe Winans ("Don't Cry", and "Jesus Loves Me"), Alicia Keys ("Send Me an Angel"), Kim Burrell (rewritten version of "A Change Is Gonna Come"), and R. Kelly ("I Look to You"). The performances were interspersed with hymns by the church choir and remarks by Clive Davis, Houston's record producer; Kevin Costner; Rickey Minor, her music director; her cousin, Dionne Warwick; and Ray Watson, her security guard for the past 11 years. Aretha Franklin was listed on the program and was expected to sing, but was unable to attend the service.Bobby Brown, Houston's ex-husband, was also invited to the funeral but he left before the service began.Houston was buried on Sunday, February 19, 2012, in Fairview Cemetery, in Westfield, New Jersey, next to her father, John Russell Houston, who died in 2003. In June 2012, the McDonald's Gospelfest in Newark became a tribute to Houston.

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late singer Whitney Houston, has died six months after going into a coma at the age of 22 on 27 July 2015 at a hospice in Duluth, Georgia.
. Brown, who was found unresponsive in her bathtub in Atlanta in January 31 2015 was found by her boyfriend, Nick Gordon, and friend Max Lomas who attempted to revive her. The incident that led to her death echoed her mother’s death three years earlier. As Whitney Houston was also found dead in her bathtub.

The police report into the discovery of Brown called it a “drowning”. Nick Gordon, her foster brother and the man she called her husband, found her in the bath. He said at the time that it seemed she wasn’t breathing and lacked a pulse before help arrived.


Funeral

On August 3 2015, Bobbi Kristina Brown was buried next to her mother, Whitney Houston at  cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey.

A Mother Saved Her Son Before Being Pulled by The Escalator at a Shopping Mall in China’s Hubei Province



A woman was killed over the weekend at a shopping mall China’s Hubei province as she was pulled into the inner workings of an escalator — but she shoved her son to safety as she disappeared into the machinery.

Surveillance footage posted online showed Xiang Liujuan, 30, riding the up-escalator with her 2-year-old son. As she neared the top, she scooped him up and stepped from the escalator onto a faulty floor panel that gave way under her weight. Xiang immediately pushed her toddler into the arms of a shopping assistant, who pulled him to safety. Another assistant attempted to pull Xiang up from the floor but she was swiftly swallowed by the escalator.

Firefighters worked more than four hours to retrieve the body, which showed “no signs of life,” Agence France-Presse said, citing the Wuhan Evening News.

The Chinese newspaper cited unnamed sources saying maintenance workers at the Anliang shopping mall in Jingzhou in Hubei had just finished working on the escalator and had neglected to screw the floor plate back into place.
The news had been seen by millions on China’s social media site Sina Weibo. Many expressed anger over the shopping mall’s negligence.

“Why didn’t the staffers stop customers at the entrance to the machine or just turn it off?” one wrote, according to AFP. “The department store is definitely responsible.”

Others were inspired by the mother’s heroic actions.

“I was appalled when I saw her sink and at the same time felt the greatness of maternal love — the mother wasted no time pushing the child out when it happened,” one said.



Family members told the South China Morning Post that Xiang was shopping with her husband, who was had not yet made his way up the escalator.

Such accidents are not unheard of in China, where “regulations and standards are often flouted and enforcement is lax, sometimes due to corruption,” according to AFP.

In 2011, a 13-year-old boy was killed in a Beijing subway station when an escalator went in reverse. More than 20 others were injured in the accident. The next year, a 9-year-old boy was killed when he got trapped in a department store escalator in the city. Last year, 12 people were injured in Shanghai when an escalator a subway station started moving backward.

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