Michael Hutchence: in the eye of the storm

In this very personal essay, Catherine Mayer remembers her friend Michael Hutchence, and wonders if our hunger for celebrity gossip is debasing our society

These days I know lots of dead people, but 20 years ago my ghosts were few and elderly. Then, on 22 November 1997, Michael Hutchence died, the first close friend of my age to do so. Grief doesn’t always manifest in tears and pain. For months afterwards, numb and fizzing with a demented energy, I walked into walls and tripped over paving stones. The bruises multiplied as if my body was trying to tell me: “This hurts; this really hurts.”

Michael’s death also began to crystallise my unease about fame and our relationship with it.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2gSLxsm