Kobe Bryant’s Daughter Gianna, 13, Dead Alongside Father in Calabasas Helicopter Crash. When someone we have admired from afar dies, it’s normal and natural to experience grief.   Connection is key The more we feel connected to someone famous, the more likely we are to experience grief when they die. Our feelings of connection to celebrities are not based on personal relationships but instead on our own identities. It’s common for us to admire and grow attached to famous people whose work, personalities, and lifestyles we aspire to ourselves. We like them—or at least their public personas. And often we dream of becoming more like them. Celebrities unite us   Feelings you may experience shocked and numb at first. With a celebrity death, however, our sense of shock can be even more profound because celebrities seem invincible. They are larger than life. They are super-human. How can they suddenly be gone?   What to do with your grief Join in the public mourning rituals. Discuss the death with other fans. Share thoughts, feelings, and tributes in social media. You might want to write a letter to the celebrity’s family, for example, telling them how much they meant to you.  Celebrity mourning as a steppingstone Openly and actively expressing your thoughts and feelings about a celebrity’s death can help you become a more active and open mourner when someone close to you dies. Mourning is the only way to healing.

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