John Travolta Tragedy: Why Are Celebrities Cursed?

I don't mean to be insensitive to the Travolta family, who have experienced the most tragic of losses. But am I the only one who has noticed that celebrities, who are blessed in so many ways, are almost cursed when it comes to vacation and travel? The two things do not mix well.

How many of YOUR friends or acquaintances pass away on vacations or in vacation spots? It certainly seems like celebrities are far more affected by this awful phenomenon than regular folks.

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism might want to think twice about encouraging celebrities to come to their shores. The country was the unfortunate location of the equally tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son Daniel, just 11 hours after he arrived to meet his newborn sister DannieLynn in September, 2006. Despite the fact that he died right in the hospital, medical personnel were unable to revive him.

The press attention, autopsies, investigations, and the paternity battle between Howard Stern and Larry Birkhead drew attention to the Bahamas for months.

Why does this happen to them more?

# 1 Percentage wise, they have way more vacation time than the normal population

# 2 A lot of them are afflicted with a sense of infallibility. They don't think they can have accidents and that can translates into reckless behavior.

Bobby Kennedy's son, Michael, crashed into a tree in Aspen and died in 1997 while playing a version of ski football. Sonny Bono also fatally skied into a tree on the Aspen slopes in 1998. Anna Nicole Smith clearly didn't think she needed medical attention for systemic sepsis syndrome, a lethal blood infection. The result: she passed away needlessly at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino resort in Hollywood, Florida.

Many celebs also, ahem, have the tendency to drug and drink too much. Perfect example, Natalie Wood who drowned at age 43 after a boozy night on her vacation yacht in Catalina Island, CA in the company of husband Robert Wagner and costar Christopher Walken in 1981.

Less lethal are the romantic tragedies that celebrities experience on vacations and in vacation locales. And again, I ask you, do you have a large portion of friends whose relationships end up on the rocks in some of the most beautiful place on earth? Brad and Jen famously announced their separation after what appeared to be a snuggly second honeymoon on the beautiful island of Anguilla in 2005. Renee Zellweger's picture-perfect wedding on the tropical island of St. John to Kenny Chesney lasted all of 128 days before they announced their divorce. Pam Anderson and Kid Rock tied the knot during a wild yacht party in the St. Tropez yacht harbor in July, 2006 and split just four months later. Her next marriage to sex tape entrepreneur Rick Salomon in Las Vegas clocked in at 139 days before the bust up. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey made a famously photographed last attempt at patching up their "newlywed marriage" during a romantic trip to Florence in 2005. Needless to say, the divorce was announced a couple months later.

Finally there's the issue of celebrities in airports. I don't need an algorithm to know that the rich and famous have far more variety of mishaps in airports than your friends and neighbors. Could it be because not only do they think they're entitled to special treatment, i.e. not having to go through security like the rest of us? But many of them don't seem to think that there will be consequences for their airport misbehavior. And when they lose their luggage — watch out! If these following incidents don't convince you that Hollywooders should stay home, then at least they have been forewarned.

For more about celebrities and vacation disasters, follow Bonnie on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bonniefuller.

Comments

[xxnounxx]

your whole story is quite pahtetic really..how do you know non famoue people dont loose friends on holidays..people are dying like flies in gaza.
write about what celebrities are saying,seeing your in the entertainment section

[nevernine]

I must say, without trying to sound cruel, enough of the Travolta thing.
Larry King is a big culprit with this kind of celeb. overkill.
He had shows about that kid for three straight nights. Tom Cruise saying
how wonderful the family is, etc. Sure, nice, but . . . can we
look at life and death in a broader perspective? Do you realize
how many children suffer and die in this world every moment?
I know, it is a cliche', but it is also never fully realized.

[rudyinbama]

Do you have any statistics that celebrities experience tragedy to some greater percent than average people or is this just nonsense?
I think there are a lot of families mourning victims of terror, natural disasters, and war who might beg to differ with your premise.

[smag]

They are cursed. There is no voodoo or hex. A large number of them are narcissistic, egomaniacs and simply self indulged kids in a grown up body. Often they make stupid decisions that many of us may not make simply because most of us are not pampered and worshiped by a dumbed down populous. It's hard to believe that we have citizens that believe if a star says it, makes it, uses it, or buys it that it must be great. People are gullible.

[bartonfink]

not only will I never see those two minutes again, but I'm wasting more time respon

[aznurse]

Why is this still here after 5 days and 93 comments?

[Firenze]

I just lost 2 very long minutes of my life reading this post.

[marymansour]

The difference between celebrity tragedies and that of John Q. Public is a matter of the spotlight. Others endure the same mishaps but don't get the full media attention.

[sonshine]

I don't think there's a curse on celebrities on holiday or during air travel, its just that you guys cover it more. I live part time in The Bahamas, for instance and there are family tragedies as regularly among "regular" people as with celebrities.

[mytwosense]

Just as absurd as stating that more astronauts experience the space vacuum than non-astronauts. And while I have submitted previous comment on the column, it wasn't accepted. So this time, I'll just leave it at this, folks.

[UNCLEJOE]

In his country a woman gets raped every 2 1/2 minutes, 40,000 people die in drunken car accidents, and 400,000 die of of tobacco related cancers annually. thousands of children and teen agers disappear annually, the highest rate of murders is between women from 16-28 years of age, and we incarcerate 50% of our prisoners for non-violent or sex crimes.
And we waste weeks of MSM time talking about Trivolta's Tragedy while 3-5 Americans are still being killed daily in Bush's folly the wars in the Middle east. Why?

[SonnyBono]

"Sonny Bono also fatally skied into a tree on the Aspen slopes in 1998."

Now just a gosh darn minute - if I skied into a tree in 1998, what the heck am I doing posting here in 2009? I can't be dead, nobody told me - somebody call Cher or if they can't reach her, try Mary - I know she'll always be there for me.

[Partisan59]

Celebs aren't so much cursed as in the spotlight. How many parents lost children on Jan 1? Dozens, hundreds? They weren't the focus of a media blitz though.
I don't disagree with your premise that celebrity lifestyles can be hazardous but I think the reason it seems like they suffer "more" tragedy is more likely that non-celeb tragedy goes unnoticed by anyone but those directly involved.

[arbrock]

Agreed. To further clarify, If the identical misfortune befalls a poor kid in his bedroom at his parent's house while he marks time until his next shift at McDonald's, no one hears about it and almost no one cares. Also, people don't have perversely inane discussions about poor kids who work at McDonald's being cursed. Get some sort of a grip on reality folks.

A.R. Brock

[greendream]

They are cursed no more than the Kennedys are 'cursed'. You have large families there is also room for more things to go wrong. You live life under a microscope (or in the case of celebs-a telescop) and the ordinary things that happen to everyday people somehow become something bigger than what they really are.

[ElBruce]

They travel a lot.