25 Celebrities Who Lost A Parent At A Young Age

These 25 celebrities have tragically lost a parent, while under the age of 20 years old. The celebrities share what happened and how they found out.

Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron’s father was shot and killed by her own mother. Charlize was 15 years old and witnessed the shooting in their family home. The reason for her mother killing him, was an act of self-defense as he came home drunk and pointed a gun at the both of the women.

In an interview with DailyMail UK, Charlize said: “My father said he would kill us with his shotgun. My mom said she was afraid that he really would kill us.”

Freddie Prinze Jr.

Freddie Prinze Jr.’s father Freddie Prinze Senior, was a well-known comedian-actor in the 70s.

In 1977, Freddie Prinze Jr was only 10 months old when his 22-year-old father committed suicide after leaving a note saying: “I can’t take it anymore.”

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts lost her father when she was just 10 years old.

Her father, Walter Grady Roberts, died of throat cancer at the age of 44 years old.

Sean Lennon

Sean’s father, John Lennon, was a legendary performer and co-founder of The Beatles.

On December 8th, 1980, John was shot to death outside of his New York apartment. The killer was ‘superfan’ Mark David Chapman.

Sean was 5 years old at the time of John’s death.

Ellen Pompeo

Ellen Pompeo lost her mother at a young age. The Grey’s Anatomy star had a tragic start to her childhood, as her mother died of a painkiller overdose.

Ellen was only 5 years old, her mother only 33 years old at the time of her death.

Paul McCartney

The Beatles’ singer lost his mother on October 31st, 1956.

Paul McCartney’s mother, Mary, had been battling breast cancer and died of an embolism, right after she had an operation to stop the cancer from spreading.

Paul was 14 years old and completely unaware that she had died from cancer, until later on.

Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs

In an interview with DailyMail UK, Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs opened up about his father’s death when he was only 3 years old. “They say you can’t miss something you never had, but that’s only a little ways right. There have definitely been times as I’ve gotten older that I’ve missed my father – his presence – not being here… There are things that you would ask your father. There are also things that you would celebrate with him that would make him proud.”

His father, Melvin Combs, was shot to death in 1972 while sitting in his car in New York City.

Melvin was 33 years old at the time of his death.

Madonna

In December of 1963, Madonna lost her mother to breast cancer at age 30.

Madonna was just 5 years old at the time, and the loss was understandably devastating.

Bella Thorne

Bella Thorne was only 9 years old when her father tragically passed away. He died in a motorcycle accident.

Since the passing of her father, Bella has written a song that goes into details about how she felt and what happened to her father.

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy’s parents divorced when he was 3 years old.

When Eddie was 8 years old, his father, Charles, died at age 28.

A woman stabbed Charles in what Eddie assumes was a “Crime of passion: ‘If I can’t have you, then no one else will’ kind of deal.”

Dave Navarro

Guitarist for the band Jane’s Addiction, Dave Navarro shared, with the Huffington Post, the story of how he lost his mother, who was shot to death.

Dave was 15 at the time and was not actually home when her murder happened.

After his mother broke up with her then ex-boyfriend, John Riccardi, began to stalk her. Eventually, John broke into her condo, shooting her and her friend to death. Riccardi was given the death sentence, only for the sentence to become overturned in 2012.

His updated sentence was life without parole.

Dove Cameron

The Disney channel star lost her father, Philip Alan Hosterman, who took his own life in 2011. Dove once told fans that the reason she changed her name from Chloe to Dove was to pay tribute to her father, who used to call her that.

Dove was 15 years old when her father died.

Rosie O’Donnell

Rosie O’Donnell’s mother was laid to rest on Rosie’s 11th birthday, after ending her battle with cancer.

Rosie, along with her siblings, were not aware of their mother’s illness, nor were they allowed to attend the funeral, due to their father’s strange behavior.

Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson’s mother, Lorna, died of cancer, in 1982.

The boxer was 16 years old at the time of her death. Mike Tyson has described her as the strongest woman figure in his life. Tyson also expressed guilt over being a “horrible son,” when Piers Morgan asked why Tyson exhumed her body and had her re-buried in a more expensive coffin.

Prince William/Prince Harry

Princes William and Harry are, sadly, well known for having lost their mother at a young age. The two sons of the royal family opened up about how they felt upon learning of the death of their mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.

Prince William was 15 and Prince Harry was 12, at the time of their mother’s death. The brothers were on vacation with their father, in Scotland, when they heard that Princess Diana had died in a car crash, in Paris.

While hearing the tragic news about their mother was devastating enough, the boys reflected on how the media did not help whatsoever. Harry said: “I think one of the hardest things to come to terms with, is the fact that the people that chased her into the tunnel, were the same people that were taking photographs of her while she was still dying in the backseat of the car.”

Austin Mahone

In 2014, singer Austin Mahone revealed that his father committed suicide.

Austin was just 16-months-old at the time of, his father, Carter Mahone’s passing.

50 Cent

Born Curtis Jackson, but better known as rapper 50 Cent, tragically lost his mother when he was 8 years old. His mother, Sabrina Jackson, died in 1983, caused by a ‘mysterious fire’.

He told Contact Music, “Someone put something in her drink and turned the gas on. After that, every time something went wrong, I’d think, ‘If my mother was here it wouldn’t be like that’.”

Kelsey Grammer

Kelsey Grammer’s father, Frank, was murdered when Kelsey was 13 years old.

April 1968, a man named Arthur B Niles set fire to a car outside of the Grammer’s family home.

Frank Grammer went outside and was then shot twice by Arthur B. Niles, resulting in Frank’s tragic death.

Dylan McDermott

Actor Dylan McDermott lost his beloved mother in Connecticut, in 1967.

Dylan was 5 years old when he heard gunshots outside their apartment and then witnessed his mother being carried into an ambulance, covered in blood.

Her death was first ruled as an accident until Dylan had the case reopened in 2012.

Come to find out, her death was not actually a suicide, but was caused by her then-boyfriend, John Sponza. Sponza had lied to authorities, as he was the only witness to the shooting, and told them she had committed suicide. Sponza was later killed, in a separate accident, 5 years after her death.

Maya Rudolph

Comedian and actress Maya Rudolph, lost her mother Minnie, 2 weeks before her 7th birthday.

Her mother had died from cancer, leaving her father to raise her and her older brother.

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand was 15 months old when her father, Emanuel Streisand, did not return home from work. Her mother, Diana Streisand, said that Emanuel had died from a ‘cerebral hemorrhage’ caused from being ‘overworked’.

35 years later, her mother admitted that Emanuel had actually died of respiratory failure most likely caused by a morphine injection during an epileptic fit.

Molly Shannon

Molly Shannon lost her mother when she was 4 years old.

Her family had gotten into a car wreck, where not only her mother died, but also her younger sister.

Bono

Bono, the lead vocalist for U2, lost his mother in 1974. His mother, Iris, died of a brain aneurysm, four days after she collapsed at her own father’s funeral.

Bono was 14 years old, at the time and admitted that her death led him to his career as a musician. “I didn’t know at the time, as I filled it with music. I became an artist through her absence and I owe her for that. I thought the rage I had was a part of rock ‘n’ roll but the rage was grief.”

Stephen Colbert

Comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert lost his father when he was 10 years old.

In 1974, Colbert’s father, James, and 2 brothers, Paul and Peter, died when their plane crashed in a North Carolina cornfield. He told Oprah that it took him 8 years to fully process what had happened. “I didn’t really feel the loss until I was in college,” he explained. “Then, I was in bad shape…I was just so sad about it.”

Malcolm X

When, human rights activist Malcolm X was 6 years old, his father was hit by a streetcar.

His mother believed that his father, Earl Little, was actually killed by members of the Black Legion, as members of the Ku Klux Klan had previously sent threats to Earl’s activist group UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association).