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Celebrities who were brutally murdered by fans because of fame, jealousy and more
Celebrities whose lives were cut short by murder.
You can understand stars who hire bodyguards. At least they can keep themselves safe from obsessive fans. Fans just buy merch with the image of celebrities and create their fan pages in the best case. However, they can also fantasize about romances with celebrities, experience jealousy or even commit murder.
OBOZREVATEL shares cases when stars died at the hands of those who idolized them. Unfortunately, they had to see the other side of fame.
John Lennon
British rock musician, singer, artist, writer, political activist, founder and member of The Beatles: all this is about the legendary John Lennon. This man was a symbol of pacifism, humanity and calls for peace on the whole Earth. The celebrity never looked down on his fans. He did not refuse them either in autographs or in short conversations. However, this did not save him from one of his fans and his violent actions.
A 25-year-old man Mark Chapman came to Lennon's house and asked the musician to sign his name on December 8, 1980. He left the autograph and turned around to go home, but the fan shot him 4 times in the back. The Beatles leader died on the way to the hospital.
What was the fate of the murderer? Chapman was diagnosed with a mental illness, but with the specification that he acted consciously at the time of the crime. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. What was Mark's motive? Firstly, he wanted to become world famous thanks to a "high-profile" crime. Secondly, the man hated Lennon's hit song Imagine. He thought he became a "communist and hypocrite" after it.
Gianni Versace
Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace founded the brand in 1978, which today produces luxury clothing, accessories, cosmetics, perfumes, cars and much more. The designer went to a coffee shop on the morning of July 15, 1997. As he was returning to his Miami estate, 27-year-old serial killer Andrew Cunanan shot him in the back of the head twice.
The crazed fan had previously claimed to have met and befriended Versace in 1990. It soon turned out that this was not true, and that Andrew was simply crazy about Gianni. When the man realized that his house was surrounded by police, he committed suicide.
Selena Quintanilla-Perez
Mexican-born American pop singer Selena was incredibly popular in the 80s and early 90s. Unfortunately, her fame did not last long. The celebrity's life was cut short at the age of 23.
How did it happen? Let's start from afar. Yolanda Saldivar was her fan. She admired Selena's songs so much that she became obsessed and did everything possible to head the fan club of the star. She then got a job as a manager of the celebrity boutiques.
Selena discovered financial fraud in the affairs of the fan club in 1995. She met with Yolanda at the Days Inn hotel, where a quarrel between the girls arose. When the singer decided to leave the premises, Saldivar shot her in the right shoulder. The wound caused a ruptured carotid artery and rapid blood loss. She died at the hospital. A Texas court found Yolanda guilty of murder and sentenced her to life in prison.
Rebecca Schaeffer
American actress and model Rebecca Schaeffer didn't enjoy fame for long as well. She was shot and killed at the age of 21 by an obsessed fan Robert John Bardo. He hired a private detective to find out where the girl lived. He wrote her letters for three years.
Once Robert saw Rebecca on the screen in bed (Scenes of class struggle in Beverly Hills movie) and got angry. It was devastating to see the one he was madly in love with being with another man. That's when he decided to kill her. He went to the movie star's house, talked to her and left. He came back an hour later and shot her in the chest. The wound was fatal. The next day the killer was detained. He confessed to what he had done and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote about the love stories of French actresses of the twentieth century.
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