Dwain Northey (Gen X)

With the deaths this past weekend of Dr. Ruth, Richard Simmons, and Shannon Doherty, it got me thinking about a long held notion that celebrities all seem to die in groups of 3… strange coincidence.

It’s one of the oldest superstitions in pop culture. The notion that movie stars and celebs always give up the ghost in groups of three. And it does happen from time to time. After all, the Big Bopper, Richie Valens, and Buddy Holly all died in one 24-hour period in 1959. As superstitious as is sound the circumstance seems to repeat itself.

Early June 2018 was a rough one. To start, on June 5, designer Kate Spade died at 55 by suicide. She was found in her New York City apartment and left a suicide note.Then, on June 8, it was announced Anthony Bourdain died at 61, also by suicide. He was found unresponsive by his friend in a French hotel.A few days later, on June 10, The Goldbergsactor Jackson Odell died at the age of 20. 

A few months after David Bowie’s death rocked us, 2016 started to seem like the worst year for celebrity deaths yet. 

On April 17, 2016, we were saddened to hear that Doris Roberts, the lovably annoying mom on Everybody Loves Raymond, died in her sleep at age 90. 

Just a few days later on April 20, ex-WWE wrestler Chyna died at age 46 of an accidental drug overdose after taking sleeping pills. 

And one day later on April 21, fans everywhere were heartbroken to learn that Prince had met a similar fate — the music legend’s shocking death at age 57 was ruled an accidental overdose.

A stand-up comedian and actor widely known for his role in the Seinfeld series finale, John Pinette died on April 5, 2014. Pinette’s personal doctor signed off on the 50-year-old’s cause of death as pulmonary embolism. 

The following day, legend of the silver screen (and notorious ladies’ man) Mickey Rooney died in his sleep from natural causes at the age of 93. 

On April 7, news of 25-year-old English journalist and television personality Peaches Geldof dismayed family, friends and fans, who found her death sudden and inexplicable. Sadly, a subsequent inquest into her death revealed that heroin likely played a large part in it.

I realize that it’s a fact of life that people die and I also know that as superstitious animals we always look for patterns, I just find it odd that this is a coincidental pattern that we find so fascinating.