We pay tribute to other celebrities who have also left this world all too soon. Many of these personalities were in the prime of their lives, leaving us to mourn over the life and career that could have been. They may not be with us, but they will not be forgotten. We remember some of them here.
South Korean comedian Park Ji-sun was found dead in her home with her mother on November 2. The 35-year-old’s father called the police when he couldn’t contact them on their phones. When he entered the house with the police, both Ji-sun and her mother had reportedly passed away.
Ji-sun was reportedly under treatment for an unspecified medical condition. Police are investigating the case.
The comedian debuted in 2007, and had worked on various TV entertainment programmes.
The Japanese actress has passed away, and the cause of death appears to be suicide, according to sources close to her.
She was found unconscious by a family member in her home and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Her death comes eight months after she gave birth to her second child, after her 2019 marriage to actor Taiki Nakabayashi. She also has a 14-year-old son with from her previous marriage to kabuki and film actor Shido Nakamura II.
The actress has numerous accolades and awards to her name, and has acted in top Japanese dramas including Mukodono, The Queen of Lunch, Pride and Strawberry Nights.
Taiwanese television host and singer Alien Huang has died at the age of 36, according to Taiwanese media.
Huang, also known as Xiao Gui, who is famous for co-hosting the long-running variety programme 100% Entertainment with singer Show Lo and TV host Linda Chien, was found dead at his home in Taipei on Wednesday (Sept 16).
According to Taiwan’s Apple Daily, Huang returned home at about 10pm on Tuesday. There was no one at home at that time.
He was found lying half-dressed in the hallway near the bathroom by his father, who was looking for him to have lunch together, at about 11am on Wednesday. There were some external injuries on Huang’s head and some blood stains on the floor.
He was pronounced dead by the paramedics who arrived at the scene. The police did not find any drugs, wine bottles or signs of struggle on the premises.
Preliminary investigations show that he died after slipping near the bathroom.
Huang, who had dated singer Rainie Yang in the past, was recently romantically linked to Taiwanese cheerleader Wu Han-chun.
He was formerly part of the Japanese-Taiwanese boy band HC3 in 2002 and Taiwanese boy band Cosmo in 2003. Both groups have disbanded.
He began co-hosting 100% Entertainment in 2006 and was nominated for Best Host in a Variety Programme at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards in 2015. He quit co-hosting the show in January 2016 to concentrate on his singing and acting career.
Text: Lim Ruey Yan / The Straits Times
South Korean actress Oh In-hye died on Monday (Sept 14) after she was found unconscious in her home in Incheon earlier that day.
According to news outlet Dispatch, the 36-year-old was found in a critical condition at about 5am on Monday. She was found unresponsive by an acquaintance, who then called the police and emergency services.
Oh received cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other emergency procedures before she was taken to a nearby hospital, where her breathing and pulse reportedly stabilised, according to The Korea Herald.
However, she did not regain consciousness and was pronounced dead later in the day.
The South Korean police are investigating the case as suicide.
A private funeral service will be held at the Inha University Hospital in Incheon, with her funeral to be held on Wednesday.
Oh debuted with the film Sin Of A Family in 2011 and has acted in other movies, such as Red Vacance Black Wedding (2011) and A Journey With Korean Masters (2013).
She grabbed headlines during the Busan International Film Festival in 2011 when she wore a revealing dress on the red carpet.
On August 29 (Singapore time), the Black Panther star was announced to have passed away from colon cancer.
He was diagnosed with the disease in 2016, and throughout his four-year battle, he continued to film movies during and between surgeries and chemotherapy sessions.
“It was the honour of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther,” said the statement posted on his social media accounts.
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020
Japanese actor Haruma Miura, best known for his roles in dramas such as Bloody Monday and movies such as Koizora, has reportedly passed away today (July 18).
According to Yahoo Japan, the actor, who just turned 30 in April, did not report for work on July 18.
Reps from his agency, Amuse Inc, visited his home at around 1pm and found him unresponsive. He was brought to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Local police suspects he died by suicide.
This story is developing.
The Glee actress was missing for five days before her body was found in the lake where her son was discovered alone on a boat. They had gone on a boating trip together.
Her death has been ruled as accidental drowning. While it is unclear what had happened, her son said his mother had pushed him on the boat but did not get back onto it herself.
K-pop star Yohan, a member of boy band TST, died on Tuesday (June 16) aged 28, reported The Straits Times.
The cause of his death is unknown.
Yohan, whose real name is Kim Jeong-hwan, made his debut with boy band NOM. After the band disbanded, he joined TST in 2017 as a vocalist. TST, formerly known as Top Secret, released its latest single album Count Down in January.
Yohan’s death shocked many of his fans as he was active on social media in recent months. He last posted a photo of himself at the beach on Instagram on May 31, with the caption: “I want to travel.”
Japanese reality TV show Terrace House has suspended its production for the 2019-2020 season after the sudden death of a 22-year-old cast member, reported Reuters.
Hana Kimura was a professional wrestler and star of the latest season of the popular Netflix reality TV show. She died on Saturday (May 23), according to World Wonder Ring Stardom, the professional wrestling organisation that represented Kimura.
Apparently, a suicide note was found at her Tokyo home. The news came as a shocked to fans around the world as she was reportedly struggling with online harassment, raising concerns over cyber-bullying as her social media accounts had been flooded with comments portraying her as a villain.
Before her death, Kimura had reportedly posted a photo of herself with her cat on Instagram, with the caption, “I love you. Live a happy, long life. I’m sorry.”
Recently, it was reported that the production team had asked her to stage the bullying incident.
On May 15, Park Ji Hoon’s family announced on his Instagram account that he had passed away on May 11 from battling stomach cancer. His family also thanked supporters and friends for their warm comfort and condolence messages. “Thanks to you, we were not alone as we sent my younger brother to heaven,” it added. The Korean model-turned-actor was best known for his appearance on the tvN drama ‘Chicago Typewriter’ which aired in 2017.
Taiwan-born Canadian model-actor Godfrey Gao, 35, died on Nov 27, 2019 after he collapsed while filming a Chinese variety series. His agency, JetStar Entertainment, confirmed this on Weibo. He was reportedly rushed to hospital, where he died after nearly three hours, according to JetStar’s statement.
According to Chinese media reports, he had been filming Chase Me – a night-time variety series by Zhejiang Television which focuses on physical tasks for its contestants.
South Korean singer-actress Sulli was found dead at her home on October 14, 2019. The 25-year-old former f(x) member had just made her solo debut in July, but had been battling severe depression for years.
She was also a victim of cyber-bullying, which she cites as the main reason why she quit the girl group in the first place. After her death, the “Sulli Act” was proposed to enact a new law that demands online users to use their real identities online, in an effort to curb malicious online comments.
Sulli had started her career as a child actress, appearing on the historical drama Ballad Of Seodong (2005), before joining SM Entertainment as a member of girl group f(x) in 2009. She was beloved by fans for being outspoken against hateful online comments and cyberbullying, as well as advocating for feminism such as the “no bra movement”.
41 days after Sulli took her own life, her best friend and fellow K-pop star Goo Hara was discovered dead at home. Fans were deeply shocked as the 28-year-old former KARA girl group member had just released a new song and had just completed a promotional tour in Japan.
Like Sulli, Hara also suffered from depression and cyberbullying. She was locked in a legal dispute with ex-boyfriend Choi Jong-bum, who allegedly assaulted her and threatened to release a sex video filmed without her consent.
The passing of 28-year-old actor Aloysius Pang shook Singaporeans, with many expressing disbelief and heartache. Aloysius was carrying out repair work inside a Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer — an artillery gun mounted on an armoured chassis — for reservist while at the Waiouru Training Area in New Zealand, when he “sustained injuries when the gun barrel was lowered”, said the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). Many will hopeful that he would pull through, but after a series of surgeries and despite the efforts of the doctors there, he was placed on life support and eventually succumbed to his injuries. Aloysius was a bright child star, beginning his career at a tender age of nine, before taking a hiatus at 14 and returning to the small screen again at 2012. In 2014, he was named by Mediacorp as one of 8 Dukes of Caldecott and received the Best Newcomer Award at the 2015 Star Awards. He was slated to film an upcoming drama, My One in a Million, after Chinese New Year.
Before Jackie Chan (and later Donnie Yen) popularised Chinese martial arts, Bruce Lee was the one to watch. His films sparked an interest in Chinese marital arts in the West, and dramatically influenced the direction and tone of martial arts films in the United States as well as globally. Lee Xiao Long, or little dragon as he was most famously coined, moved from Hong Kong to the United States in 1959, and began teaching martial arts before making it big with films like Fists of Fury (1971), Way of the Dragon (1972) and The Game of Death (released posthumously in 1978). Shortly before his death at the age of 32 in 1973, Bruce was diagnosed with cerebral edema (accumulation of fluids in the brain) after a bout of seizures and headaches. His passing was ruled as a death by misadventure.
Main vocalist of popular K-pop boy band SHINee, Jonghyun, as he was better known, died at the age of 27 from carbon monoxide poisoning in his apartment in Seoul on Dec 18, 2017. Although widely regarded as having one of the best vocals in South Korea and applauded for his astuteness to craft his own musicality, Jonghyun struggled with depression and fame. He left a suicide note with a close friend and fellow singer Nine9, where he described his pain and said he was “broken from the inside”. His album, Poet Artist, which was completed before his death, was released by his label SM Entertainment, and all profits from the album went to his family to start a charity foundation to help others. Many believe that his death points to the demands of the South Korean culture, which has one of the highest suicide rates amongst developed nations.
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Actress Emma Yong, known for being one-third of popular local musical comedy theatre act Dim Sum Dollies, succumbed to stage 4 stomach cancer (tumours had spread to her spine, uterus, pelvis and kidney) at the age of 36 after a 16-month long battle. The bilingual thespian also starred in Glen Goei’s 2009 film The Blue Mansion where she played Mei-Yi, an oppressed daughter-in-law in a rich family, and was named Best Supporting Actress award at the 2006 Life! Theatre Awards for her role in Chinese-language musical Shanghai Blues. Since her passing, the Emma Yong Fund was created to support local theatre practitioners that suffer from critical illnesses.
Known as “Madonna of the East”, Anita Mui was a popular Cantopop idol who died at the age of 40 in 2003 due to cervical cancer. Anita started her career in 1982 with her debut album, Debt Heart, and had sold over 100 million records and performed over 300 concerts. She was famous for her outrageous dance moves and costumes, as well as high-powered vocal performances, which revolutionised the gangtai style of music. Not limited to her singing abilities, Anita was also an esteemed actress, finding success in films like The Heroic Trio (1993) and July Rhapsody (2002). She was also casted in Zhang Yimou’s 2004 film House of Flying Daggers, but had to pull out due to health reasons and passed away shortly.
Malaysian-born, Singapore-based actress Tiffany Leong was only 30 when she died after a two year battle in 2015 with multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome, a rare hereditary condition that causes the endocrine glands to grow excessively or develop numerous tumours. The Mediacorp actress, also known by her onscreen moniker Zhuo Qi, acted in television dramas such as La Femme (2009) and Turning Point (2015). After her diagnosis in 2013, she had returned to filming in Malaysia in 2015, but was forced to stop after an infection. Industry veterans such as Xiang Yun and Zheng Geping had also paid tribute to this well-mannered actress, with Xiang Yun saying she was knowledgeable, talented, beautiful, humble, kind and hardworking.
#khoonhooi#ss15#sneakpeek#nationalvisualartsgallery #KLfashionweek#makeuphairdostarzteam
Posted by Tiffany Leong 梁麗芳 on Thursday, 13 November 2014
CNN once placed Leslie Cheung as one of “Asia’s 25 Greatest Actors of All Time.” Not only is he a celebrated actor for his roles in films such as Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Happy Together (1997), Leslie is also known for his Chinese pop music that dominated the airwaves alongside Anita Mui, Alan Tam and Danny Chen. Behind his versatility lied a man plagued with depression brought on by his fame and attacks on his sexuality. It eventually led him to commit suicide by jumping off the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong at the age of 46 in 2003. He had written a suicide note that began with the word ‘Depression’, which was found in his pocket.
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Amy Winehouse, a British singer from London, was known for her soulful vocals and signature beehive up-do and thick cat eyes. Her 2006 album, Back to Black, not only showed off her songwriting prowess, it also showcased her abilities to shine across soul and rhythm and blues musical genres. The album also led her to win five Grammys in 2008, which included Best Pop Vocal Album and Song of the Year for Rehab. But behind her powerful voice and unique take on music, Amy struggled with substance and alcohol abuse, depression, eating disorders, and a toxic relationship with former husband Blake Felder-Civil, who reportedly introduced the singer to drugs. Many artists have credited Winehouse as an influence who helped pave the way for them, including Adele, Duffy, Ellie Goulding and Emeli Sandé.
Known most famously for his role as a naive quarterback, Finn Hudson, in American musical dramedy Glee, Cory Monteith, 31, was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room in July 2013 after consuming a deadly combination of heroin and alcohol. The actor, who was dating fellow Glee actress Lea Michele both on-screen and off, had been struggling with alcohol and substance abuse since he was 13 and had entered rehabilitation twice by the time he was 19. Seven months prior to his death, Cory had checked into rehab for the third time.
in observation of National Hug a Cat day pic.twitter.com/qWwO0DIL
— Cory Monteith (@CoryMonteith) June 5, 2012
Despite living a short life of 36 years, Marilyn Monroe is still widely remembered for her blonde bombshell characters. From doing raunchy pin-up modelling to singing happy birthday to US President John F. Kennedy, Monroe is most famously remembered for the scene in 1955 romantic comedy The Seven Year Itch, where her white dress famously flew up when she stood on a subway grate. Her life came to an abrupt end in 1962 when she overdosed on barbiturates, which reflected her struggles with substance abuse, depression and anxiety.
Known for his critically acclaimed roles in Brokeback Mountain (2005) and as Joker in Batman film The Dark Knight (2008), the 28-year-old Australian actor died after accidentally overdosing in 2008. He had posthumously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joker. Before his death, Ledger’s former fiancee Michelle Williams had revealed that the actor had insomnia and had to take sleeping pills. Heath himself admitted in an interview that although his body was exhausted, his mind just kept going. In 2011, the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia in Perth named a 575 seat proscenium theatre after the actor.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton, or better known as Aaliyah, was a popular hip-hop and R&B singer before she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas at the age of 22 in 2001. She was in the Bahamas to film the music video for her song, Rock The Boat. A child star who first gained recognition at the age of 10 when she appeared on a television show Star Search, she went on to sign with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson’s Blackground Records. Having sold over an estimated 24 million albums worldwide, Aaliyah is remembered for her contributions to the music industry that has since influenced fellow artists like Adele and Rihanna.
Remembered as a ‘bad boy’, James Dean became an icon of social disillusionment and generational differences that teenagers faced after his roles in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). His uniform of denim in these movies is also canonised in the denim history as a pivotal moment that contributed to the widespread popularity of jeans in postwar America. His interest in auto racing perhaps led to his end as he died in a car accident along highway route 466 in Cholame, California at the age of 24 in 1955.
Another American cultural icon, the Jailhouse Rock singer Elvis Presley passed away at the age of 42 due to a heart attack. The King of Rock and Roll was reported to have suffered from drug dependency, which might have been the cause of his multiple ailments. Elvis was known for his flamboyant interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style that often courted controversy. Widely regarded as one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century, he was also a prolific actor, with roles in films such as Love Me Tender (1956) and G.I. Blues (1960).
If you or a loved one is struggling with issues of mental illness, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse, please seek help at the following:
Suicide prevention:
Samaritans of Singapore at 1800 221 4444
Counselling:
Youth Line at 6336 3434
Touch Line at 1800 377 2252
Tinkle Friend (For primary school students) at 1800 2744 4788
Sexual health:
Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Control (AIDS and STI) Helplines at 1800 252 1324
Action for AIDS Singapore at 6254 0212
Mental illness:
Singapore Association for Mental Health at 1800 283 7019
Emergency Helpline (IMH) at 6389 2222
Eating Disorders Helpline, SGH at 1800 283 7019
Substance abuse:
Smoking QuitLine at 1800 438 2000
Alcoholics Anonymous at 6475 0890
SANA Hotline at 1800 733 4444
National Addictions Management Service (NAMS) at 6732 6837 (6-RECOVER)
WE CARE Community Services at 6547 5459
AWARE helplines:
Women’s Helpline at 1800 777 5555
Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) helpline at 6779 0282
These information are taken from Healthhub under the Ministry of Health and AWARE.
