Why do we cry when celebrities die?

After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in the summer of 1997, there was a public outpouring of grief at her tragic death. At that moment, I heard some shallow voices saying “How can you cry to someone you never knew?” How can you cry for someone you never knew? “Back then, when I was eighteen, I didn’t have all the answers as to why the tragedy had bothered me. I just thought it was because I felt empathy for Diana’s friends and family, and in particular, her two young children, the princes William and Harry.

Recently, I have been reflecting on death and how its occurrence can affect people in different ways. Mourning is strange. I have met people who do not mourn the death of their parents, but later mourn the death of a celebrity.

In my experience, the proximity of the deceased to the bereaved in the family tree is largely irrelevant. The deceased may come from the same branch as the bereaved, or from the branch above or from the branch below. really do not care. The deceased may not even have been from the same tree or forest. Again, it doesn’t matter. However, what matters is to what extent the roots of the celebrity, for example, reach your heart and soul. You do not regret the loss of what you know about a person, but how they made you feel. I mean, someone can bring joy into your life and you may never have met them. So, in fact, you are in mourning for the feeling, the emotion that they gave you. That is why my friend did not mourn the death of her father, but yes, the celebrity. It’s because his father had been extremely abusive, attaching horrible emotions to their relationship. On the other hand, the celebrity gave him joy and happiness through the power of song. So there you have it, we regret what’s inside the shell of the relationship, the feeling of happiness and joy, not the shell itself.

We, as humans, create bonds. It’s what makes us, well, human. Ties, since the beginning of time, have become a method of survival: strength in numbers. In groups we were able to hunt larger animals and protect ourselves against larger animals and hostile tribes. This animal instinct has never left us, and that is why we connect so much with celebrities. Those with whom we fall in love give good feelings. They milk, within us, all those hormones that feel good. It is the excretion of these hormones that protects against depression and, as a result, can boost our immune systems. Therefore, when they die, their passing can make us feel vulnerable. And as such, we can mourn them as friends or even as family members.