What can I possibly say about this messed-up, tragic and trainwrecky story?
While we've not devoted any column space to the death of socialite and Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson here at Mamapop, I admit I've handed over MASSIVE amounts of brain space, reading every bit of news and update that sludges from the depths of the gossip blogosphere and various C- and D-list celebrity Twitter accounts.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I almost don't even know where to start. Casey's been getting a name for herself for all the wrong reasons lately: partying with Hollywood celebutantes, drugs, alcohol, accusations of breaking into ex-girlfriends' homes to steal underwear and leave behind used vibrators, more drugs, losing custody of her three-year-old adopted daughter, getting cut off from her billionaire family in a hope that it would force (another) trip to rehab, hooking up with Tila Fucking Tequila, of all people. They were "engaged!" And "in love!" Tila sported a (totally fake) ring and they sloppily made out on the red carpet while pills fell out of Casey's purse and Tila tweeted and tweeted and Casey's friends (or whatever she had that came close to "real" friends) backed away in horror and disgust and likely waited for her to hit bottom and the world settled in to watch our newest incantation of Downward Spiral Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse.
But then Casey Johnson was found dead in her home a few days ago, having apparently died there a few days before THAT. She was 30. THIRTY.
The working theory is that she got drunk or high or both and passed out without taking her diabetes medications. (She was Type 1, and had been hospitalized TWICE already after falling into diabetic comas.)
If you've been following along too: I KNOW, RIGHT? How messed up IS all this?
All of Casey's celebrity friends rushed to post their condolences on Twitter, all scrambling to suddenly publicly stake their claim over who was closest to her, who was the most affected, and to attack each other and point fingers. Judging from Twitter, where Tila dramatically fell into a depression and Paris Hilton wept over baby photos of Casey and Nicky and herself, poor Casey was the most beloved, cherished human being to ever die alone in their home and not be discovered for days.
Okay, that isn't fair — it seems like maybe Tila was the only person who had any reasonable access to Casey, and given Casey's behavior over the past year (or longer) it's doubtful that anyone else would immediately know that she wasn't answering her phone because something was wrong and not because she was screening her calls to avoid any talk of rehab or reality. Her family had cut her off financially, but I imagine Casey had cut them out emotionally long before that.
But man. It's sad. And it's creepily, morbidly fascinating, a story we've seen time and again: a lovely girl who had everything she could have ever wanted in life, including an addiction that was bigger than any inheritance or fortune, dying young and alone because she was too impaired to take her medication. Medication that was likely produced and manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.
My condolences to her family and anyone who tried to help but couldn't.
