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Friday, August 2, 2019

ANALYSIS: Kennedy curse: RFK granddaughter's death latest in tragic history

Date created : 03/08/2019 - 04:36 GMT/ZULU

Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, who was US attorney general during his brother John F Kennedy's presidency, was shot and killed in 1968 as he campaigned to become the Democratic nominee for that year's presidential election — AFP/File

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by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

The death of Robert Kennedy's granddaughter at age 22 is the latest in a long list of tragedies stretching back to the 1940s to have struck America's most famous political dynasty.

Saoirse Kennedy Hill was found unresponsive at the Democratic family's sprawling compound at Hyannis Port on the Cape Cod peninsula in Massachusetts on Thursday, according to multiple US media reports.

Her cause of death wasn't immediately confirmed but The New York Times said she had died from an apparent drug overdose. Kennedy Hill had written about her struggles with depression.

"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse," the Kennedy family said in a statement to us at France24. "She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit."

"The world is a little less beautiful today," said 91-year-old Ethel Kennedy, Saoirse's grandmother and widow of Robert Kennedy who was assassinated in 1968 while on the campaign trail.

Saoirse was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, one of 11 children that Ethel and Robert, younger brother of former president John F. Kennedy, had together.

One of the first police responders answering an emergency call at the Kennedy property radioed that the victim was in cardiac arrest when he arrived, according to the local daily Hyannis News.

An autopsy revealed no trauma inconsistent with lifesaving measures, the paper added.

The Kennedys, often considered the closest thing the United States has to a royal family, have been plagued by tragic and untimely deaths for decades.

Edward Kennedy, John and Robert's brother, once even talked about whether there was a "curse" hanging over the family. Commentators and US media regularly refer to the "Kennedy curse."

Four of patriarch Joseph Kennedy's nine children died violently.

The most famous of them -- John -- was assassinated on November 22, 1963 during a visit to Dallas, Texas when he was president and just 46 years old.

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and charged with Kennedy's death but was himself shot dead by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial.

Numerous conspiracy theories surround the assassination despite an official commission ruling in the year after Kennedy's death that Oswald had acted alone.

- Plane crashes -

By the time of John's death, the Kennedys had already been struck by tragedy.

The eldest son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, Joseph Jr, was killed in action in August 1944 while serving as a bomber pilot during World War II.

Then in 1948, their second eldest daughter Kathleen died in a plane crash in the south of France aged just 28.

Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, who was US attorney general during JFK's presidency, died in Los Angeles on June 6, 1968 as he campaigned to become the Democratic nominee for that year's presidential election.

Kennedy, the leading candidate for the nomination, was shot and mortally wounded by 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan as he walked through a crowded hotel kitchen after winning the key California primary.

Sirhan, who is still serving a life sentence for the murder, said he killed 42-year-old Kennedy because of his support for Israel.

Later generations of Kennedys have also suffered immense tragedy.

In 1998, John F Kennedy's son John Jr died in a plane crash at the age of 38. His wife and sister-in-law also died.

Two of Robert Kennedy's sons also suffered untimely deaths: David, from a drug overdose in 1984 at age 28, and Michael, in a skiing accident in 1997 when he was 39.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

BREAKING: Demi Lovato 'in Los Angeles hospital for suspected overdose'

Demi Lovato sings in New York in 2016 — Image captionThe 25-year-old has sung about her struggle with addiction in the past.

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, BBC News Entertainment reporters, Los Angeles

Pop singer Demi Lovato is in a Los Angeles hospital after a suspected drug overdose, US media report.

The Los Angeles Police Department reportedly responded on Tuesday to a medical emergency in the Hollywood Hills, where Lovato lives.

TMZ reports the 25-year-old was found unconscious and treated at the scene with Naloxone, an anti-overdose medicine, after possibly taking heroin.

The Sorry Not Sorry singer was in a stable condition, US media report.

Lovato has struggled with substance abuse for years, and appeared to relapse in recent weeks.

Last month she cancelled her show at London's O2 arena, announcing the news on Twitter hours before the concert was due to begin.

In a single released last month, Sober, she sings: "Mommy, I'm so sorry I'm not sober anymore. And daddy please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor."

The song ends with the lines: "I'm sorry that I'm here again, I promise I'll get help/It wasn't my intention, I'm sorry to myself."

Media captionDemi Lovato helps woman overcome depression and self-harm

The track release followed Lovato marking six years of sobriety in March this year.

She was due to complete the North American leg of her Tell Me You Love Me world tour with a concert in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Thursday.

Her fans say the singer's battles with bipolar disorder, bulimia and addiction - often documented in her music - have helped them with their own struggles.

The BBC contacted Lovato's representatives on Tuesday, but did not receive an immediate reply.

As reports of her condition spread, there was an outpouring of support on social media from other celebrities and musicians.

Within hours of the report, tens of thousands of people had tweeted the hashtag #PrayforDemi.

According to US health officials, 115 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day with more than 250,000 Americans dying over the past decade.

Raised in Dallas, Texas, Lovato first entered the spotlight on the children's TV series Barney & Friends.

She appeared alongside the Jonas Brothers in the 2008 Disney Channel movie Camp Rock.

Lovato released her first studio album, Don't Forget, in 2008.

In a YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated, released last October, Lovato revealed her drug use began when she first tried cocaine at the age of 17.

"I felt out of control the first time I did it," she said. "My dad was an addict and an alcoholic.

"Guess I always searched for what he found in drugs and alcohol because it fulfilled him and he chose that over a family."

Lovato went to rehab for the first time in 2010.

"I wasn't ready to get sober," she said in the documentary.

"I was sneaking it on planes, sneaking it in bathrooms, sneaking it throughout the night".