Philip Seymour Hoffman Grief Relief

Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of my favorite actors. I was shocked and distressed by his death, and welcomed the opportunity on Tuesday to be a guest on HuffPost Live to participate in a discussion on celebrity loss.

The show was hosted by Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani and included Reverend Robert Chodo Campbell, co-founder of the New York Zen Center, and Rabbi Daniel Greyber.

The topic of the show was, "Is It Harder to Cope With an Untimely Death?" One of the primary questions discussed by the panel was: Does the death of a celebrity give us an opportunity to grieve openly and talk about death as a community and in safe ways? We seldom do this with our own grief. Celebrities that we know and admire from watching their movies, plays or television performances are the perfect friends and give us just enough distance to talk about death in safe ways.

Timelines for grief were discussed with final agreement that grief is a unique and individual experience. Below is the link to the show.

Please watch and let me know your thoughts.