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Sometimes, when we think about celebrities, we can forget that they’re people too, just like us. One thing that’s probably the hardest about being a person is the fact that we’ll all die one day. Yourself, your parents, children, family, best friends, and everyone you know, love and hate will all die one day. It’s not an easy thing to deal with, but it’s something that we have to remember is inevitably waiting for us. The worst part about death is that we never know when it’ll happen.

Some might think that’s a good thing, as knowing when it’s going to happen can cause some pretty bad anxiety in our short-term for the time we have left on the earth. Even if you have cancer or some terminally ill disease that you know will be the cause of your death, you still can’t know for sure when it’s actually going to happen and when that moment is going to come. That’s always the hardest part about it.

You’ll have your last meal, enjoy your last kiss, watch your last movie, and take your last breath all at some point in your life without ever realizing that it will actually be your last. For some of us, especially celebrities who are constantly followed by paparazzi, some of our last moments are captured in photographs. There are plenty of celebrities whom we know and love who have died, but for this list, we’ve gathered fifteen pictures of those who have passed.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was an incredibly talented singer whose life was taken way too soon. She had a very bright future ahead of her filled with plenty of record deals and tours that would've set her up for life. Unfortunately, she couldn’t seem to overcome her battles with addiction and ended up overdosing, causing her tragic death. Looking at a young woman like this walk down the street without knowing anything about her, you would never guess that she would end up dying so young. She looks mildly happy and healthy, and nothing about the way she’s walking down the street would suggest that just within the next week, she’d be buried six feet under. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. Death is scary and wild, and we can never truly know when it’s going to pop up in our lives. Luckily, she'll always live on in the music she left behind.

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers will always be known as one of the most talented comedians of all time. Although she could be pretty harsh to some people, always ripping on celebrities, we still couldn’t help but laugh at her honest and brutal jokes. She’s influenced plenty of people throughout her life, and who knows what comedy might look like had she never been around? She really was a pioneer for women and wasn’t afraid to be herself during a time when women were still expected to be timid and polite. Joan was certainly the opposite, and even those who don’t like her have laughed at her jokes at one point or another. The biggest critique against her is that she’s problematic and takes things too far sometimes. When you’re a comedian and a powerful one like her, though, you have to take risks and chances, and she sure did.

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger was a very talented actor whose last few roles made him even more well known after his death. His death was a total shock to fans everywhere after he was found dead in a hotel room. The whole situation really was tragic, especially wondering what exactly it was that caused it. When you look at a photograph like this, it’s hard to imagine someone who was battling so much inside before his life was taken. Although we think we know all there is to know about a celebrity’s life, a picture like this and knowing what happened to him afterward are reminders that that’s not the case at all. Some state that the final movie role he had is what caused his inner turmoil; however, there’s a good chance he was battling some stuff before that. It’s truly tragic to see a picture of a celebrity knowing that it’s his last.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe is still, to this day, one of the most famous actresses of all time. Something about her and the way she looked really made her more of an icon. Most of us alive now know her more as just what she represented rather than who she was. She wasn’t around when social media was and didn’t have swarms of paparazzi constantly following her like most celebrities have to deal with today. Because of this, we don’t know as much about her life as we do some other stars who are prominent today. This makes it harder to view her as a person, but she was very much just like you and me. Since she’s like you and me, that also means that she had to die at one point. Like other beautiful talents on the list, she was taken too soon. Above is one of the last photographs ever taken of her.

Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy was another beautiful and talented actress who was gone way too soon. She was so gorgeous and brought a unique energy to every role she decided to take on. She did struggle throughout her life, however, and although she had the talent needed to be a star, she didn’t seem to like the life that came along with it. When she passed away, her husband ended up dying just a few weeks after her. It’s really a tragic story, especially knowing all that she had to go through in her young life. In the photograph above, the last time she’d walk on the red carpet, she doesn’t look sick at all! She actually looks pretty healthy, and it seems as though she had a very long life ahead of her. Unfortunately, however, this was the last time she would ever have her picture taken on a red carpet.

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury is regarded as one of the most talented musicians of all time by plenty of people. Some people love him so much that they even have his face tattooed on their bodies! He was able to live a decently long life but was still taken too soon by AIDS. He had an amazing voice, and his band, Queen, will still be played on radios everywhere for the foreseeable future. He really had some monumental songs that we won’t get sick of singing anytime soon. This photograph of him above is really a beautiful one. He looks very peaceful and serene standing next to his cat in a beautiful yard. He seems tranquil even though he knew he was going to die. He lived such a special life, influencing so many people and other talented musicians throughout the years. Although he wasn’t here for long, at least he was here in the first place.

Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman was a talented actor who had a number of diverse roles. Although he’s played plenty of other characters, he was best known as being Professor Snape. Unfortunately, we recently lost him to a horrible death of cancer. This is the last known photograph taken of him. He actually looks pretty happy and healthy. Although Harry Potter ended anyways, it’s still sad to think that he wouldn’t be around for anything else in the franchise to ever come out. At least when it comes to actors, we’ll always be able to look back on the movies they did and have a great way to remember them by. He also was able to live a long and happy life filled with many great roles and memories unlike some of the younger celebrities to appear on the list.

David Bowie

David Bowie’s death was incredibly hard to take. He was one of the most talented musicians of all time and really did a lot for the history of music in general. The way he performed both on stage and behind the camera was mystical. He was unlike anyone else at the time when he first started creating music, and even now, in a world where everyone’s a little weird, he still stands out as a unique and talented individual. The way he presented himself as a magical being made it seem like he would outlive us all and never die. Unfortunately, he, too, ended up getting cancer and passing away. Before he left this world to move onto the next, he gave us one final amazing album and some great videos to go along with it. He also did one last photoshoot, pictures from which you can see in the awesome photographs above!

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder was an incredibly talented actor who had an unlimited number of roles that would take us all day to explain and describe. For whichever way you know his fame, however, there’s no denying that he was someone you admired in the roles he played. He managed to bring a uniqueness to every role he chose to take on, and imagining anyone else playing the parts he played just seems weird. He’s someone most of us knew since childhood, and we watched him in other great movies as we got older. It’s really sad to think that someone we admire has to die one day. In the case of Wilder, though, it’s good to know that at least, he lived a long and happy life. In his last photographs, he still looks happy and carries a bright light in his eye that we remember seeing in the amazing roles that we made us fall in love with him.

Bob Marley

Bob Marley is another iconic singer who still remains prominent today. Like some other musicians, Bob actually didn’t die in a tragic young way. He lived a decently long life and was able to inspire many people with his music for as long as he could. Although we still can’t believe that he passed, he did, but not before taking the final photograph that you see above. It’s strange to see him in this way. Most of us know his face in other ways for other reasons, and in this one, you can somewhat see that he’s sick. It’s a reminder that even though someone is rich, famous, and talented, he'll never be immune to death. There are certain ways people die that we may never find a cure for. Even if we could find a cure for everything, humans still seem to have expiration dates.

Steve Irwin

The death of Steve Irwin was definitely one of the most shocking on the list. He was supposed to be an animal and wildlife expert, but that ended up being what took his life. It’s like if Guy Fieri died in a kitchen! It would make sense, however, as he’s there all the time. Once you’re a well-known man like Steve, you’re also not afraid to take risks anymore. In this final photograph taken just a few days before his death, you can still see Steve looking pretty happy. He was a healthy and young guy, so not many people would've ever expected his life to be taken so soon in the way that it was. Unfortunately, he did lose his life just a few days later on a boat very similar to this one. Some of us may have forgotten about him, but it’s photographs like this that remind us of a life that once was.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson is definitely one of the most famous pop stars of all time. He really transformed mainstream music, and the talent he carried was undeniable. Unfortunately, he was also a disturbed man known for abusing children. Some people decided not to believe the rumors or just ignored them all together, so he remained fairly prominent in the music scene up until he died. His death and its exact causes are still not fully understood, and some have their own theories about what happened. No matter what the truth is, it was still shocking that he was taken so much sooner than any of us would've thought. In the photograph above, you can see him performing for one of his very last performances ever. You would never have thought that just a few days later, he would die in such a controversial way. We’ll always have his music to remember him by, however.

Prince

Prince was another incredibly talented musician to make the list. He was incredibly passionate about his music and secretive in many different ways about his life. Unfortunately, his life was taken way too soon by overdosing on prescribed medication. Although it’s still a little unclear about what the exact cause of death was, when it happened, it was certainly heartbreaking. Knowing that we’ll never see him perform again or hear new music from him the rest of our lives is enough to make us want to die! Because of all the amazing music and films we have of him, however, he’ll certainly live on forever. That’s one of the greatest things about celebrities and everyone on the list. Whatever their talents were and whatever they were passionate about and created, we’ll always have with us after they die to help their lives spread throughout everyone else’s for eternity.

Selena

Selena was a beautiful and talented actress who was taken way too soon by one of her crazy fans. Unfortunately, we'll never hear new music from Selena or see her perform again like many of the talented singers and songwriters on the list. In the picture above, she looks incredibly relaxed. There’s no way that she ever could've known that her life would be taken so soon. If it wasn’t, who knows what her life would be like today? Just look at other celebrities that were around when she was who are still alive today! How different the world might've been! It’s heartbreaking to see such a clueless beautiful woman not know that she was going to lose her life so soon. If she had known, what might have she done differently? Where might she have gone and what might she have wanted to do instead of whatever it was she was doing in the photograph?

Sharon Tate

Sharon Tate was one of the actresses on the list who became a little more famous after she died than she was before. She had only been in a few movies and had recently married the talented director Roman Polanski. They were expecting their first child together, a baby boy. They seemingly had a perfect life. He was a successful director, and she was a talented actress whose career could've really taken off. Unfortunately, instead, she and her unborn baby’s life were taken the day after this photograph was taken. Some of the members of the terrifying cult, The Manson Family, broke into their home one day and brutally tortured and murdered her. It’s tragic looking at a picture like this knowing the fate that was waiting for her. She was so full of life, literally and figuratively, and that was all taken away way too soon.

Source: Wikipedia.org