Passings

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As the star-studded tribute to the King of Pop concluded, Michael Jackson’s own children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II (Blanket), 7, took the stage during a group performance of “Heal the World.”

After the song, Paris gave an impromptu speech from the stage surrounded by the Jackson family.

“I just want to say ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine,” she said through tears. “And I just want to say I love him so much.”

Her aunt Janet Jackson then took her into her arms for a hug before the entire Jackson family left the stage, closing the service that lasted more than two hours.

The moving tribute was especially startling because it marked one of the first times Michael’s daughter has ever been heard publicly.

Source: PEOPLE

Click below to watch Paris’ moving words.
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Update: Exodus passed away at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz. “Our sympathies go out to the family,” says Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill.

“We are grateful for the tremendous outpouring of love and prayers from all over the world,” Mike says in a statement.

“There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Exodus. We ask you now to please respect our need at this very difficult time for privacy to grieve and try to help each other heal.”

Update Tuesday a.m.: The family has released a statement, which reads:

“The Tyson family would like to extend our deepest and most heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support, and we ask that we be allowed our privacy at this difficult time.”

Originally posted May 25th: In what police are describing as a “tragic accident,” Exodus Tyson — the 4-year-old daughter of boxer Mike Tyson — was critically injured Monday after becoming ensnared in a treadmill cable at her home in Phoenix. According to reports she was discovered hanging from the cable at approximately 10:30 a.m. by her 7-year-old brother, who alerted their mother in a nearby room. Exodus’ mom removed the cable and called 911.

While details are scarce, Police Sgt. Andy Hill tells FOX News,

“Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, and there’s a cord that hangs under the console – it’s kind of a loop. Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it.”

Responding emergency personnel performed CPR on Exodus, who was rushed to St. Joe’s Hospital where she reportedly remains on life support. Reps for Mike — who flew to Phoenix from Las Vegas upon learning of the accident — have thus far refused to comment on Exodus’ condition, which Sgt. Hill characterizes as “extremely critical.”

Source: FOX News

Chris Joseph/Landmark/JPI

British reality star Jade Goody — mom to sons Bobby, 5, and Freddie, 4 — died in her sleep early Sunday — Mother’s Day in the U.K. — after losing her battle with cervical cancer. She was 27 years old. The Big Brother contestant — who at times drew controversy for her sharp tongue — documented her final weeks in the hopes of earning enough money from magazine, book and television deals to carve out a bright future for her sons, fathered by television host Jeff Brazier.

Though tragic, her death has increased awareness about cervical cancer in England, as health officials have reported increased inquiries and doctor’s appointments since Jade’s battle became public.

For more on this story, please see PEOPLE’s coverage of her life and death.

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Actress Natasha Richardson — mom to sons Micheál, 13 and Daniel, 12 — passed away last evening in New York City, following a traumatic brain injury suffered Monday during a ski lesson. Motherhood was a top priority for Natasha, who was married to Liam Neeson for 15 years. Scott Ellis, who directed the 45-year-old in January, remembered,

“Some actors when you work with them and they have children, you’re surprised to find out they have children. With Natasha, she was fierce about those kids. Motherhood was really, really important to her.”

For more on this story, please see her family’s statement and PEOPLE’s look back at her life in photos.

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The death of a child is something that no parent could ever forget, but Philadelphia Phillies’ infielder Marcus Giles has a constant reminder of his loss tattooed on his left arm. The series of numbers represent the GPS coordinates of his daughter Lundyn Mae’s headstone, he tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. Born 12 weeks prematurely in 2002, Lundyn survived just 16 days outside the womb. “We prayed and prayed until she died,” Marcus, 30, recalled. “Obviously, it was a nightmare, but you know she is in a better place.” He adds,

“She doesn’t have to suffer anymore. She doesn’t have to worry about the kinds of infections or diseases that she would be prone to.”

Marcus and his wife Tracy Giles wasted little time in getting pregnant again. ”It was an easy decision to have another kid right away,” Marcus explained. “We both enjoy kids a lot, and we knew that’s what we wanted.” As for the three healthy daughters who have arrived since Lundyn’s death – Arrington Mae, Sawyur Rae, and Tatum Kane — Marcus reveals,

“We tell them they have an older sister in heaven.”

Source: Philly.com

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Coronation Street and Hollyoaks stars Kym Marsh and Jamie Lomas are in a state of mourning today, after the premature delivery of their son at 22-weeks gestation. Archie Jay Lomas died minutes after birth, according to reports. In a statement, the couple said,

“Archie is our beautiful angel and we will miss him so much.”

Kym, 32, is mom to David, 13, and Emily, 10, with ex-partner Dave Cunliffe. Jamie is dad to Billy, 2, with ex-partner Hayley Lever.

Archie — who had been due in June — was born on Wednesday, the same day Kym’s co-star Alison King delivered daughter Daisy Mae.

Source: BBC

Thanks to all the CBB readers who emailed us the news.

Frank Micelotta/AP

Shortly after discovering she was expecting her second child with rapper T.I., former Xscape member Tameka ‘Tiny’ Cottle was faced with the heartbreaking news that her pregnancy check-up had raised a red flag.

In a new interview with Essence.com, Tiny opens up about her pregnancy struggles, sharing that the sac that held her baby girl “was split in two and they had not combined by the time she had turned 16 weeks old.” With her daughter “positioned in the middle of those two sacs in her own sac,” Tiny was told to prepare for the “possibility that [the baby] could get tied up in her umbilical cord.”

Despite the doctor’s warnings, according to Tiny, the thought of losing the baby never crossed her mind. In fact, says the singer, her doctors informed her that all was well with her baby, as things seemed to be under control. A trip to the specialist the following day however, proved otherwise. “When I went to see the specialist, that’s when they determined there was no heartbeat,” explains Tiny, who delivered her stillborn daughter six months into the pregnancy.

Surrounded by family and friends to avoid her mind from wandering and being “so sad,” both Tiny — who found herself “very upset and depressed for awhile” — and T.I. spent the hours after the birth in the hospital room with their daughter Leyah Amore.

For the devastated mother, the idea of leaving the hospital without her baby girl was understandably hard to swallow. “Here I am in the hospital to have a baby, deliver it, but I’m going to go home with no baby,” says Tiny, who admits she continues to “keep [Leyah's] belongings near me — pictures and roses [from the burial].” While the songstress realizes that her form of grieving may seem “crazy” to others, she “just needed to be with” her baby girl.

“After Leyah was born, I kept her in the room with me the whole day. They placed her in the little basket and we dressed her in an outfit and had a blanket wrapped around her. They came and got her because her body went cold and I wanted her back so they warmed her body again and I kept her. Everybody came to visit her and then me and [T.I.] had our time alone with her.”

Continue reading for more on Leyah and the unexpected turn the couple’s relationship took.

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In a wide-ranging interview with the UK newspaper Telegraph, songstress Lily Allen reveals how her despair over a January 2008 miscarriage led her to spend three weeks in a psychiatric ward. “I was really depressed because of the miscarriage and I’d kind of lost the plot a bit,” the 23-year-old songstress explains. “It was quite a nasty time.” The baby was the first for Lily and her then-boyfriend Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers; the couple were “over the moon” to learn they were about to become parents. Recalls Lily,

“It’s pretty hard to talk about it, but that Christmas I was at home with my family and Ed, and I wasn’t drinking, and I just sat there knowing I was having a baby and I was in absolute bliss. Sitting round eating turkey, playing games, watching everybody getting drunk, and being really excited knowing this time next year, I was going to have a baby…And I haven’t.”

The couple split shortly after the miscarriage, and Lily admits she often tortures herself with questions of ‘what if?’

“I guess… it wasn’t to be. That’s all I can say…Maybe if I’d stayed pregnant and had the baby then things would have worked out between me and Ed. I don’t know. You could drive yourself insane thinking about it.”

Lily’s latest album It’s Not Me, It’s You will be in stores February 10th.

Source: Telegraph

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In sad news, Ella-Jayne Murray — the 8-month-old daughter of UK stars Sarah Parish and James Murray — has died after succumbing to complications from a congenital heart defect.

Sarah and James were made aware of the condition while Sarah, 40, was still pregnant, and Ella-Jayne — affectionately dubbed ‘E-J’ by her parents — was ultimately born five weeks premature via emergency C-Section. The delivery was later described as “traumatic” by James, for Ella-Jayne was immediately whisked off for her first of two surgeries to repair the condition, consisting of a hole in her heart. Despite the scary circumstances of her birth, in an interview last summer James, 33, credited his daughter for giving the couple a newfound “perspective on what’s important in life.” He went on to add,

“You can never plan anything in life, and never take anything for granted.”

Ella-Jayne died at her parents’ Hampshire, England, home last week. The couple are said to be ”devastated” by the loss, according to a statement from Sarah’s spokeswoman, who adds “it’s been very hard for them both.”

Ella-Jayne is their first child. Sarah and James have set up a fundraising page in honor of their daughter at Just Giving.

Source: The Sun

Thanks to CBB readers Rachael, Katrina, Chloe and Natasha.

REUTERS/Courtesy of the Travolta family/Rogers & Cowan/Landov

Update: The cause of Jett’s death has been attributed to a seizure disorder, a friend of the Travolta’s tells PEOPLE. Official results are yet to be disclosed.

See a collection of photos released by the family here.

Originally posted January 2nd: Jett Travolta, the 16-year-old son of actor John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston, died Friday while on vacation with his family in the Bahamas.

Michael Ossi, a lawyer for the family, told Reuters that Jett suffered a seizure at his family’s vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island. According to police spokeswoman Loretta Mackey, who spoke with the Associated Press, Jett hit his head in a bathtub Friday morning and was declared dead at Rand Memorial Hospital.

According to a police statement, a caretaker found Jett unconscious in the bathroom around 10 a.m. An autopsy is being pursued to determine the exact cause of death. Attempts were made to revive him, but he died at the scene, Michael said. The death was first reported by TMZ.

Jett, who had a history of seizures, was the only son of John, 54, and Kelly, 46. They also have a daughter, Ella Bleu, 8. In a message on Kelly’s website, the family shares,

“We would like to extend our deepest and most heartfelt thanks to everyone who has sent their love and condolences. Jett was the most wonderful son that two parents could ever ask for and lit up the lives of everyone he encountered. We are heartbroken that our time with him was so brief. We will cherish the time we had with him for the rest of our lives. We have received many messages of condolence from around the world and we want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. It has meant so much to us. It is a beautiful reminder of the inherent goodness in the human spirit that gives us hope for a brighter future.”