REVEALED: Late 'Fame' Star Irene Cara Was A 'Recluse' Who 'Didn't Talk To Anyone' Before Her Mysterious Death At 63
Neighbors of Irene Cara, who mysteriously passed away last month at the age of 63, recently revealed the late singer and actress lived like a “recluse” in the days leading up to her death, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Although Cara’s official cause of death has not yet been revealed, her passing was announced on November 25 after she was found deceased in her Largo, Florida home.
Now, neighbors who lived nearby to the Fame and Sparkles actress have spoken out to claim Cara “didn’t talk to anyone” in the weeks and months leading up to her sudden passing.
“She was a recluse. She didn’t talk to anyone,” Roseann Nolan, a neighbor who lived across the street from Cara, told the New York Post on Monday. “I didn’t even know it was her living there until a few years ago. It was the best-kept secret ever.”
Another neighbor, Maria Contreras, told the outlet how she regularly attempted to befriend Cara over the years – even before Contreras knew Cara was the famous singer of such hits as Flashdance... What a Feeling and Fame.
“I’d text her or call her to invite her to come for a walk but I wouldn’t hear back for days,” the neighbor, who lived right next door to Cara, said. “And she’d never call back using her cellphone. She called from her computer because she was worried about privacy. She didn’t look well and she said she had health issues.”
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“But no one, including him, ever went inside her house,” Contreras continued, referencing a man who mowed Cara’s lawn. “She greeted you outside by the garage.”
“She got very angry with me when I took down a fence between our houses because I wanted to put a new one up. She sent me such crazy messages that I saved them on my phone,” the neighbor added. “She was worried that she wouldn’t be safe with the fence down, even for a day.”
As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported, Cara’s autopsy was completed on November 30. But while the Pinellas County Medical Examiner in Largo confirmed the completion of Cara’s autopsy to this outlet nearly one week ago, the autopsy results have not yet been released to the public.
Betty McCormick, Cara’s manager of almost 20 years, stressed that neither drugs nor alcohol played a part in the star’s sudden passing. McCormick also ruled out suicide, although Cara’s manager did reveal Cara “struggled” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“She was very afraid of getting the virus,” McCormick told the Post. “She really struggled during that period.”
Besides winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Flashdance in 1984, Cara was also a celebrated actress both in film, television and on stage.
“I don’t mean to sound immodest — but I’d never had any doubt that I’d be successful, nor any fear of success,” Cara said in 1985 at the height of her fame and 37 years before her death last month. “I was raised as a little goddess who was told she would be a star.”