It’s always sad when a favorite celebrity dies. It’s especially sad when that death could have been prevented. At least 200,000 heart attacks are preventable each year! In honor of Heart Health Awareness month, we wanted to show you 10 surprising celebrity heart attacks. Most of these people did not see that final moment coming. Don’t be like them. Now, it’s easy to find out your heart health status.
JIM MORRISON
Most people think he died of a drug overdose, but he was actually found dead in a Paris bathtub at age 27 of heart failure.
If you click on the photo, you will see a video interview of Jim. In it, he thinks someday we’ll “cure” death. We haven’t been able to do that yet, but we are able to take more control of our health with tests like this one.
JOHN CANDY
John was always a big man. Towards the end of his life, he became morbidly obese. He died of a heart attack while shooting a film in Mexico. He was only 44 years old! It’s never good to carry that much weight. But it you are that heavy, then make sure you get your heart health checked regularly.
CLARK GABLE
The man who was famous for not giving a damn died 2 days after wrapping what many think was his best role ever in the movie “The Misfits.” He was 59 years old. Clark was a notorious womanizer, but it was probably his huge cigarette habit that lead to the heart attack. Regular smokers have to be ever more vigilant when it comes to heart health.
LUCKY LUCIANO
No, he did not die in a hail of bullets as you would think. He actually died of a heart attack at the Naples Airport in 1962, waiting to meet a film/television producer who was going to do Lucky’s life story. It was going to be the ultimate tell-all of his life!
BRITTANY MURPHY
There’s been a lot of mystery surrounding how Brittany died. It was originally diagnosed as heart failure, but later her death was attributed to severe anemia & acute pneumonia. Both of which are treatable if caught early and treated. She was only 32.
SHOELESS JOE JACKSON
He broke the hearts of a lot of baseball fans in Chicago when he got caught up in the Black Sox Scandal. Some to this day still think he wasn’t a part of the group that fixed the World Series. He tried to get reinstated for the rest of his life, which ended with a heart attack in December of 1951, still denied. He was 64 years old.
JOHN RITTER
John was shooting an episode of “8 Simple Rules” when he started complaining about chest pains and nausea. Then he started vomiting. He was quickly taken to a nearby hospital, but died a couple of hours later of a torn aorta on 9/11 in 2003. He had shown no sign of heart trouble prior to the day. He was 54 years old.
Of all the deaths in this blog post, this seems the most preventable. Get your heart tested. If you wait until you experience symptoms of a heart attack, it may already be too late!
ORVILLE REDENBACHER
No, this pitch man didn’t die because of a diet of popcorn. He was actually in a Jacuzzi in Colorado when he had his heart attack. Sadly, he was alone and that’s why he ended up drowning in what was supposed to be soothing waters. He was 88 years old.
GEORGE STEINBRENNER
While many in Boston probably deny he even had a heart, Steinbrenner had a massive heart attack in the summer of 2010, right around the All-Star Break ironically enough. He was 80 years old.
ELVIS PRESLEY
The undisputed King of Rock & Roll died in 1977 of heart failure related to his drug addiction. Elvis had 18 number one singles! He was only 42 years old when his life was cut short. He is more than a musician. He’s an American Icon known around the world. We will never see the likes of him again.
The lesson from all of these is don’t wait until you start experiencing chest pains to get tested. The one advantage you have over all of these people is that you have it in your control to discover how healthy you really are. Don’t deprive the world of your existence. Don’t die of a preventable disease! Heart attacks don’t just happen to the old. Take care of yourself. Especially if you already have some of the early warning signs (high stress, obesity, etc.), get tested! The life you save may be your own.
