It's okay if you don't understand this, because I don't understand it either.

[kellinator]

I feel kind of funny making this post. I'm not sure why. I'm not even really sure why I'm writing it out, other than I'm doing it for myself.

Remember back in the day, in 2002, back in the dark ages before every washed-up celebrity got their own reality show? The Anna Nicole Show was one of the first. And I used to watch it. (In fact, I used it for workout inspiration. You can see how well that stuck.) It was a wacky, garish spectacle seemingly populated by cartoons who'd been mainlining caffeine and/or prescription drugs. It was wacky turned up to 11.

And then there was Anna Nicole's son Daniel.

Daniel looked like an average teenager who really liked Nirvana, but he sure didn't act like most of the teenagers I've known. He mainly stood out for being clearly the only sane person involved in any of this. He was very quiet and generally impervious to the insanity that surrounded him, and he was very gentle with his mother. You know, I'm not saying you can get a real sense of a person from reality TV, but he really struck me as a basically decent person in a really difficult situation -- I had a feeling, what with all of Anna Nicole's well-documented eccentricities (at best, addictions at worst), he'd had to be the parent in this relationship pretty much all of his life. He seemed like he'd had to grow up way too soon, but amazingly, he didn't seem to blame his mother for it, just accepted her for who she was. I remember one episode where he was very gingerly trying to tell her he didn't want to be on the show anymore, and I remember thinking about how rough it must have been on him, being in the middle of an out-of-control media circus. It didn't seem like who he was at all.

You've probably heard (because we Americans love our celebrity sleaze -- non-Americans, I don't know what your excuse is) that Daniel died in Anna Nicole's hospital room in the Bahamas over the weekend while he was visiting her and his newborn sister. Apparently of suspicious causes. He was just 20.

I don't know what the hell happened, but odd as it is, it makes me sad. Daniel seemed like a decent kid who tried to do right by his mom and who had far too much weight on his shoulders. Maybe I've been watching too much TV, but he deserved better.

Comments

[vikkilynn.livejournal.com]

Wow, I hadn't heard that. That makes me sad, too.
He did seem like a really decent kid. He was so easy going and patient and you could tell he really loved his mom in spite of her wackiness. I really thought he was going to grow from a normal teenager to a normal adult, and leave all the wackiness behind to start a life of his own. I'm really sad he won't get the chance to show us what he might have been.

[spielorjh.livejournal.com]

I never saw the show, but 20 is too young to die, yeah.

[meemeedarling.livejournal.com]

I much agree. Very well said!

I was shocked to see on the news today that charges could be filed depending on autopsy/toxicology reports.

[teague.livejournal.com]

I read the story too. I was no fan of Anna, but my heart goes out to her. And while it's unlikely for someone so young, and especially in such an environment to die naturally, I kinda hope they do find something like a heart valve malfunction, or an anurism. Something fast, natural, and unpredictable. While the death of someone so young is always heart wrenching, it would be nice if for once it was just one of those things, and not a conclusion to a downward spiral.

[notgruntled.livejournal.com]

I heard the news. It didn't strike me much, but I was never that into the ANS show.

Reality TV all about getting invested in other people's lives, and we obviously do, because we watch. If we didn't keep watching it, they wouldn't keep making it. It's a vicious cycle.

I don't think there's anything odd about you feeling Daniel's death acutely, in part because no one should die at 20 and in part because you sorta kinda feel like you knew the kid. He could be you or me, if our parents were way more f-ed up.

Plus there's the allure of mystery. Whodunnit, how did they dunnit, and what was dun? If the Bahamian investigation rises to the usual standards of Caribbean justice, these will be enduring questions.

[dragonbride.livejournal.com]

Damn.
That is sad.

He did seem like a good kid.

[adellyna.livejournal.com]

I heard that as well. I'd never watched the show, so I had no idea he even existed, but it's a terrible blow at what should be such a joyous time. My heart went out to all of them and I was relieved to see that nobody cracked jokes about it on my friends list (see: Steve Irwin). This was actually a lovely post.

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

Poor Anna. I can't imagine losing a child at the very same time as bringing a new one into the world. She must be going through absolute hell. : (

And that poor baby. Every birthday that child has is going to be at least partly sullied by the fact that her big brother died at the same time. It's awful.

[spudmanson.livejournal.com]

you lose 5 cool points for watching the Anna Nicole Show.

You lose 150 cool points for telling us all about it.

/pwn'd

[smibbo.livejournal.com]

that's okay, she joins me at the "formerly cool, now uncool but don't really give a damn" table

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

ONe of the things *they* are saying was in his blood was anti-depressants.

I know from experience that depression is a chemical thing.

Who knows? And really, I'm sorry he's dead but it SHOULDN'T be front page news.

[bossieboots.livejournal.com]

It made me sad, too. Just the thought of having a baby and having your child come to see you and then die right there. Her memories of her daughter's birth will always be tainted by those of her son's death.