Incest, Drug Addiction & Death: 9 Tortured Kids Of Troubled, Tragic Celebrities
Feb. 10 2015, Published 7:09 a.m. ET
As news broke that Bobbi Kristina Brown was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub on January 31, 2015, comparisons were inevitably made between the 21-year-old and her mother, Whitney Houston, who passed from a similar fate. But Bobbi Kristina isn't the only celebrity child to follow in her parents' tortured footsteps.
Peaches Geldof 1989 – 2014
Less than a year before Bobbi Kristina was found face down in a bathtub, Peaches Geldof – the 25-year-old daughter of Paula Yates – died of a heroin overdose. A journalist and rock star wife like her mom (Yates was married to singer Bob Geldof, whom she left for INXS front man Michael Hutchence), Peaches died 14 years after her mother’s accidental drug overdose. In a 2012 interview with U.K. Elle magazine, two years before her own tragic passing, the mom-of-two said, "I remember the day my mother died and it’s still hard to talk about it."
Paris Jackson seen with marks on her arm and wrist on April 28, 2013
She’s the little girl who took to the stage at her father’s memorial service to tearfully tell the world, "Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine." And in the wake of Michael Jackson’s 2009 death, his daughter Paris has struggled to cope with his sudden demise. In 2013, the then 15-year-old, was rushed to hospital after allegedly trying to commit suicide, four years after her superstar father died after overdosing on the anesthesia drug propofol.
The 2006 death of Daniel Smith is a little different in that it preceded his mother’s by five months. The only son of Anna Nicole Smith, he witnessed first-hand his mom’s addiction to prescription drugs. He died of an overdose in the Playboy model’s hospital room, while visiting her and his newborn sister Dannielynn Birkhead.
David Cassidy plays the first hand of Blackjack at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Some children of celebrity parents live with their parents' demons and that is the case for David Cassidy, who has multiple DUI arrests under his belt. The former teen heartthrob is the son of the late actor Jack Cassidy. Jack – who was married to Cassidy's onscreen Partridge Family mom Shirley Jones – was an alcoholic and had bipolar disorder. He died in 1976 after setting fire to his couch and is believed to have been drinking on the night of his death.
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Like her mom – the legendary Judy Garland – Liza Minnelli openly admits that she has battled substance abuse including a dependency on booze and prescription drugs. In a 2008 interview with U.K. newspaper The Guardian, the actress said of alcoholism, "My whole life, this disease has been rampant. I inherited it, and it's been horrendous…" Garland died of an accidental barbiturate overdose in 1969 at the age of just 47.
Cheyenne Brando
Eccentric and often reclusive in the years before his death, actor Marlon Brando suffered great tragedy in his life – most notably the 1995 suicide of his daughter Cheyenne. The 25-year-old took her life just five years after her brother Christian Brando shot her allegedly abusive lover Dag Drollet at the actor’s Los Angeles home.
Celebrities attending the Chiller Theatre Expo in NJ
Mackenzie Phillips – daughter of The Mamas & The Papas singer John Phillips – has long had her troubles, including drug addiction, multiple arrests and rehab. But it was the One Day At A Time star’s shocking allegation in 2009 that she had a decade-long incestuous relationship with her late dad that sent shockwaves throughout Hollywood. In her memoir High On Arrival, she wrote that on the night before her first wedding she allegedly "woke up…from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father." Phillips’ wife at the time the abuse allegedly occurred, Genevieve Waite denied the allegations.
Redmond O’Neal, Ryan O’Neal at the 3rd Annual American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel
The four children of Ryan O’Neal are no strangers to controversy including a rocky relationship with the actor. But it's his youngest son Redmond – whom he had with on-again-off-again longtime love Farrah Fawcett – who has most recently battled his demons publicly. In and out of jail and rehab because of his heroin addiction, Redmond – who is reportedly now sober – was in prison in 2009 when his mom died of cancer.
SHABAZZ
Witnessing your father being assassinated when you’re four-years-old is bound to have a traumatic effect on anyone’s psyche. And in 1995 – nearly 30 years after his slaying – Malcolm X’s daughter Qubilah Shabazz was charged with plotting to kill Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whom she reportedly believed had a role in her dad’s death. Although she accepted a plea deal, tragedy struck the family again two years later when her son set a fire in his grandma’s house that led to Malcolm X’s widow Betty Shabazz dying of her burn injuries.