Celebrities / life after death & near death experiences
A very short
list of those willing to come forward...
NDEs of the Rich and Famous
Hollywood sees the light
This list was copied from the web site
http://www.near-death.com one
of the best sources for information about NDE's.
The
near-death experiences of rich and famous people are particularly
interesting. They are rolling in the money. They are known all
over the world. They are often beautiful, articulate and very
talented in what they do. With this in mind, why would such a
person reveal to everyone that they were dead and came back to
life? Money? They already got that. Fame? They are already famous.
In fact, by telling everyone they came back from the dead, they
may be risking their own reputation. People who reveal such things
to others often become the butt of jokes or thought to be crazy.
Why would anyone rich and famous subject themselves to this when
it might result in lost fame and fortune? The only rational reason
that such people who have nothing to gain is that it really
happened to them and they want to share it with the world. The
following are rich and famous people who risked it all to tell the
world about their near-death experience. Some of these accounts
are documented in Jean Ritchie's excellent book,
Death's Door.
Jane Seymor
an
actress most noted for the cult classic movie, Somewhere in Time, with
actor Christopher Reeves, and the television series Dr. Quinn,
Medicine Woman. When Jane Seymour was 36 years of age, she had a
severe case of the flu and was given an injection of penicillin. She
suffered an allergic reaction which led to a near-death experience.
"I literally left my body. I had
this feeling that I could see myself on the bed, with people
grouped around me. I remember them all trying to resuscitate me. I
was above them, in the corner of the room looking down. I saw
people putting needles in me, trying to hold me down, doing
things. I remember my whole life flashing before my eyes, but I
wasn't thinking about winning Emmys or anything like that. The
only thing I cared about was that I wanted to live because I did
not want anyone else looking after my children. I was floating up
there thinking, "No, I don't want to die. I'm not ready to leave
my kids." And that was when I said to God, "If you're there, God,
if you really exist and I survive, I will never take your name in
vain again." Although I believe that I "died" for about thirty
seconds, I can remember pleading with the doctor to bring me back.
I was determined I wasn't going to die." Then Jane suddenly found
herself back in her body.
Peter Sellers
the
comic genius of a generation of actors. He brought brilliant
characterizations to numerous films, including The Mouse That
Roared (1959), Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Pink Panther (1964),
and Being There (1979). He was known for his enthusiastic way of
totally absorbing himself in his characters, even carrying roles
offstage. He also suffered from sad moods between films. While he
knew his characters thoroughly, he said that he really did not
know who he was. Then Peter Sellers, the brilliant, confused
actor, had a near-death experience. Seated in a Hollywood mockup
of a limousine's back seat while shooting his last great film,
Being There, he told Shirley MacLaine about it. He was astonished that she did not
consider him bonkers. Shirley documents their conversation in her
book,
Out on a Limb (172).
In 1964, during the
first of a rapid series of eight heart attacks, when his heart
stopped and he was clinically dead, he had an out-of-body
experience and saw the bright, loving light. Sellers stated,
"Well, I felt myself leave my body. I just floated out of my
physical form and I saw them cart my body away to the hospital. I
went with it ... I wasn't frightened or anything like that because
I was fine; and it was my body that was in trouble." Meanwhile,
the doctor saw that Sellers was dead and began to massage his
heart vigorously. Sellers stated, "I looked around myself and I
saw an incredibly beautiful bright loving white light above me. I
wanted to go to that white light more than anything. I've never
wanted anything more. I know there was love, real love, on the
other side of the light which was attracting me so much. It was
kind and loving and I remember thinking That's God." Sellers'
out-of-body soul tried to elevate itself toward the light, but
fell short. Sellers stated, "Then I saw a hand reach through the
light. I tried to touch it, to grab onto it, to clasp it so it
could sweep me up and pull me through it." But just then his heart
began beating again, and at that instant the hand's voice said,
"It's not time. Go back and finish. It's not time." As the hand
receded Sellers felt himself floating back down to his body,
waking up bitterly disappointed.
What effect did his
NDE have on Sellers? His biographer stated that "The repeated act
of dying became for Peter Sellers the most important experience of
his life." (Walker, 158) Sellers himself said of death, "I'll
never fear it again." Family and friends found him more spiritual
and reflective than before. His biographer stated, "The experience
of resurrection intensified Sellers' spiritual concern and friends
discerned the start of a new introspectiveness, a sense of his not
"being there" in spirit, though present in body." According to his
biographer, Sellers' wife, Britt Ekland, found it unnerving that
her previously restless husband had now become so quiet. He was
now "sitting still over lengthy periods, saying nothing, but
staring at her with his thoughts turned inward." Sellers returned
to England for an extended convalescence, but soon reverted to old
habits and bought his 84th car, an expensive Ferrari.
A couple of years
before his NDE, Peter had played an earnest priest in Heavens
Above, and developed a serious interest in Christianity (although
he was born Jewish). During this time, and following his father's
death in 1962, Sellers was drawn to long, serious discussions
about life's meaning with a neighboring vicar in London, the Rev.
John Hester, "to try to reconcile the world of plenty he inhabited
with the emptiness of soul that oppressed him." (Walker, 143)
After his NDE he deepened his quest for spiritual truth,
continuing his discussions with Rev. Hester, and coming close to
joining the church. In later years he practiced yoga, saying once
that "Yoga has given me a tranquility I wouldn't have thought
possible." (Walker, 217) Sellers' NDE strengthened his conviction
that he was a reincarnated soul whose power of mimicry sprang from
memories of past lives. But during his incarnation as Peter
Sellers, at least, he felt lost. He did not know who he was and
why he was on this earth. He explained to this to Shirley MacLaine
this way, "I know I have lived many times before ... that
experience confirmed it to me, because in this lifetime I felt
what it was for my soul to actually be out of my body. But ever
since I came back, I don't know why I don't know what it is I'm
supposed to do, or what I came back for." (MacLaine, 174)
Spirituality gave Sellers some peace, but did not still his
restless drift. In 1977, he complained that his yoga practice did
not stop his heart disease. According to his biographer, "After
all, what did it do for me? I obeyed all the instructions. I said
my prayers regularly. I did all the exercises for peace,
tranquility, and happiness. And all that happened was that I got
steadily worse." Sellers' NDE awakened him to a deepened
spirituality, but it did not usher in a major, lasting change in
his mental habits and his outlook on life. This brilliant actor
still felt lost. But Peter Sellers had a final heart attack. And
it was then, that it was his time to go.
Elizabeth Taylor
British
actress
Elizabeth Taylor
spoke about her experience of having died on the operating table
while undergoing surgery, and of passing through a tunnel towards
a brilliant white light. Interviewed by Larry King on CNN's Larry
King Live, the legendary Hollywood star related how she had died
for five minutes on the operating table. Ms. Taylor said that
while she was clinically dead, she had encountered the spirit of
Michael Todd, one of her former husbands, whom she referred to as
her great love. She had wanted to stay with Todd, she said, but he
had told her that she had work and life ahead of her, and he
"pushed me back to my life." Following her resuscitation, the
eleven-person medical team - including doctors, nurses, etc. -
witnessed Taylor's testimonial of this event.
"I was pronounced
dead once and actually saw the light. I find it very hard to talk
about, actually, because it sounds so corny. It happened in the
late '50s, and I saw Mike (Todd, Taylor's third husband, who was
killed in a plane crash in 1958). When I came to, there were about
11 people in the room. I'd been gone for about five minutes - they
had given me up for dead and put my death notice on the wall. I
shared this with the people that were in the room next to me. Then
after that I told another group of friends, and I thought, "Wow,
this sounds really screwy. I think I'd better keep quiet about
this."
"For a long time I
didn't talk about it, and it's still hard for me to talk about.
But I have shared it with people with AIDS because if the moment
occurs and you're really sharing, it's real. I am not afraid of
death, because I have been there."
In an interview
with
America's AIDS magazine, Liz described her NDE again: "I went
to that tunnel, saw the white light, and Mike [Todd]. I said, Oh
Mike, you're where I want to be. And he said, ‘No, Baby. You have
to turn around and go back because there is something very
important for you to do. You cannot give up now.' It was Mike's
strength and love that brought me back."
Robert Pastorelli
The
late
Robert Pastorelli
was most noted for
his starring role in the television series, Murphy Brown. At the
age of 19, he had a car accident which caused a near-death
experience that literally changed how he was living, in a very
dramatic way.
"It smashed right
into the driver's door. It hit me so hard it actually knocked the
shoes off my feet. My car rolled over about four times on this big
highway and the next thing I knew I was in intensive care with a
collapsed lung. Every one of my ribs was shattered. I had
lacerations to my head and face, and my kidneys, spleen and gall
bladder were all ruptured. I was a mess.
"I was in
excruciating pain. Then, in the next second, there was no pain.
Suddenly I realized I was out of my body. I was floating above
myself, looking down at my unconscious body lying in the hospital
emergency room with my eyes closed. I could see tubes down my nose
and throat. I knew I was dying and I thought, "Well, this must be
death." I even saw a priest giving me the last rites. But it was
the most peaceful feeling in the world. Then I saw my father
starting to faint out of grief. Two nurses grabbed him and sat him
down in a chair across the room.
"When I looked down
and saw my father's pain it had an effect on me. I firmly believe
that at that moment I made a decision to live, not die. The next
thing I knew I was waking up back in my body. Later, in the
recovery room, when I was fully conscious, I told my father what
had happened, his fainting and all. He was astounded."
Sharon Stone
Basic
Instinct star,
Sharon Stone, has
told how she had a white light experience during her brain scare.
Stone says she almost died after internal bleeding caused by a
tear in an artery at the base of her skull. Sharon was interviewed
by Katie Couric about her journey into the afterlife.
“When it hit me I
felt like I'd been shot in the head. That's the only way I can
really describe it. It hit me so hard it knocked me over on the
sofa. And Phil was out of town and I called him and said, "I think
I had a stroke." But in all fairness, I'm a person who's always
saying, "I think I've had a stroke, I think I've had a heart
attack, I think I've had a brain hemorrhage ... I had a real
journey with this that took me to places both here and beyond that
affected me so profoundly that my life will never be the same ...
I get to be not afraid of dying and I get to tell other people
that it's a fabulous thing and that death is a gift. And not that
you should kill yourself, but that when death comes to you, as it
will, that it's a glorious and beautiful thing. This kind of giant
vortex of white light was upon me and I kind of - poof! Sort of
took off into this glorious, bright, bright, bright white light
and I started to see and be met by some of my friends. But it was
very fast - whoosh! Suddenly, I was back. I was in my body and I
was in the room.”
Gary Busey
Gary
Busey , once Hollywood's bad boy, was
nominated for an Oscar for the movie, The Buddy Holly Story. Busey,
who fought addiction with drugs and alcohol for several years, was
nicknamed Gary Abusey by his wife. Busey has had supernatural
encounters in which he nearly died three or more times in his life
...a drug overdose, cancer, and an accident west of Albuquerque,
New Mexico. But the most tragic experience, and one that changed
his life, was a motorcycle accident in 1988. Gary was going about
40-50 miles per hour riding on 750 pounds of cold steel. He was
not wearing a helmet when he crashed. He was flung over the top of
his cycle, head first into the curb and he cracked his skull.
Busey had a NDE while he was dying on the operating table after
having brain surgery. During his NDE, he was surrounded by angels.
Busey stated that they didn't appear in the form that people see
on Christmas cards. The angels he saw were big balls of light that
floated and carried nothing but love and warmth - and this love is
unconditional.
As a result of his
NDE, he recently dedicated his life to Jesus and has been a
prominent speaker at many Christian Promise Keeper rallies. He is
no longer the "bad boy" of Hollywood.
Larry Hagman
Larry
Hagman, of Dallas
and I Dream of Jeanie fame, underwent a liver transplant in 1995.
Years of heavy drinking resulted in cirrhosis and cancer of the
liver. He was only weeks away from certain death at the time of
his liver transplant and near-death experience. Larry describes
what he experienced:
"I was able to look over the edge. I got a
little glimpse of what was the next step. I didn't see a light
some people see, but I had a wonderful feeling of bliss and
warmth. The bottom line is love, that sounds corny, but it was
just lovely, uplifting." Read
Larry Hagman's entire experience here.
Sally Kirkland
Actress
Sally Kirkland
has impressive film credits which include Bruce Almighty, The
Sting, JFK, and Anna for which she was nominated for an Oscar as
best actress. In 1966, Sally was participating in legal
psychedelic experiments with doctors whereby she would have
experiences of cosmic consciousness. Unfortunately, these
experiences were followed by her life spinning out of control. The
pain of life had just become more than she could bear. This led to
a nervous breakdown and several suicide attempts. Eventually, she
overdosed on Nembutal and Seconal during a suicide attempt and was
found with her heart and lungs stopped. Last rites were even
administered. It was during this suicide attempt that Sally had a
NDE. She states, "A miracle happened, I was given a second chance
and this has been a way to stay on the straight and narrow for 30
years, with the exception of a period in 1975 where I went off the
track prior to ordination. When people hear the hell I went
through on drugs, they listen to how to get off them." Today,
Sally is a yoga teacher and serves as an ordained minister in the
Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness for the last
decade, where she helps others to become drug free. When she is on
stage, she uses the emotional recall of her own near-death
experience as a source for bringing light to the roles she plays.
William Petersen
William
Petersen, the star of the TV show
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, had a near-death experience which
he described in an interview for Playboy magazine (March 2004,
page 139).
"Years ago, doing a play in Chicago, I cut my
finger in half onstage. We obviously had to stop because, well, I
didn't have a finger. By the time they got me to the ER I had lost
a lot of blood and passed out. I could hear the doctors working on
me, saying that they had lost my vital signs. I was on the "All
That Jazz" escalator with a long tunnel and a lot of white light.
Then I specifically remember a dominant male voice saying, "It's
not your time. Get off the escalator. You've got shit to do." I
came to, and got sewed up. Something in me changed, a sort of
knowledge that somewhere on the other side, its good. For weeks,
the more I talked about it, the more freaked out people got. Some
of them were like, "Okay, whatever: You took too many drugs."
Tony Bennett
By
the late 1970s,
Tony Bennett
and his career were ailing. He had no record label, no manager,
and he was performing almost exclusively in Vegas. Living in Los
Angeles, he had a drug habit, a disintegrating marriage, and
mounting debts. When the IRS started proceedings to take away his
home, he nearly overdosed, and had a near-death experience.
"A golden light
enveloped me in a warm glow," he wrote in his autobiography. "I
had the sense that I was about to embark on a very compelling
journey. But suddenly I was jolted out of the vision ... I knew I
had to make major changes in my life."
After this
experience, Tony Bennett did make the changes he needed to make
and his life and career turned around. With the help of his
manager/son Danny, he decided to attempt to appeal to younger
audiences with his music. Beginning with scheduled concerts at
colleges and small theaters, he eventually got re-signed to
Columbia Records in the mid-1980s although he hadn't recorded an
album in 11 years. Bennett also appeared on hip shows like The
Simpsons and MTV's Unplugged. His Unplugged disk won Tony Bennett
a Grammy.
Donald Sutherland
Donald
Sutherland , who played the
character, Hawkeye Piece, in the movie version of Mash, had a
near-death experience when ill with meningitis in 1979.
"Suddenly the pain, fever and
acute distress seemed to evaporate. I was floating above my body,
surrounded by soft blue light. I began to glide down a long
tunnel, away from the bed ... but suddenly I found myself back in
my body. The doctors told me later that I had actually died for a
time."
Eric Estrada
Eric
Estrada
became famous for his
starring role in the television series, Chips. While filming an
episode of Chips, he had a terrible motorcycle accident that led
to a near-death experience.
"Suddenly I was in a long
corridor with bright lights, beautiful music, and a feeling of
great peace. But something seemed to be blocking my progress. A
voice told me, "You've got to go back. You've a lot still to do.
You've achieved success and stardom but you haven't achieved
personal happiness and peace of mind." After hearing this voice,
Estrada returned to his body.
Burt Reynolds
Burt
Reynolds, the star of Smokey and the
Bandit, and many other movies, went into a coma when trying to
kick a sleeping pill addiction. He stated, "I went into a coma for
about eight or nine hours. At one point they tell me that the
doctors brought Loni in to say goodbye to me. And I had the whole
out of body experience. I heard the doctor say, "We're losing
him." And I was going..."
James Cromwell
Actor
James Cromwell
became internationally known from his
role as Farmer Hoggett, the owner of a piglet in the hit movie
Babe. At the age of five, James fell into the ocean which resulted
in a near-death experience. Since then, James describes his whole
life as a mystical event. After his NDE, James has recurring
images in his dreams that are connected to previous incarnations.
He states that he has memories of a past life in the days of King
Arthur during the Middle Ages.
Chevy Chase
Chevy
Chase became
famous when he was one of the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players for
Saturday Night Live. While working on the film called Modern
Problems (1981), Chevy Chase was nearly killed by electrocution
when a stunt went awry during the sequence in which he is wearing
landing lights and dreams that he is an airplane. The current in
the lights short-circuited through his arm, back, and neck muscles
which caused him to lose consciousness and have a near-death
experience. Now, he sees such accidents as a warning to "cut it
out and save his skin." After his experience, he went through a
period of deep depression as many experiencers do when they don't
want to return from their NDE.
Lou Gossett Jr.
Accomplished
actor
Lou Gossett Jr.,
famous for his role as a drill sergeant in An Officer and a
Gentleman, has had five near-death experiences. Lou's most
intriguing encounter occurred at the age of twelve. While playing
baseball, he fell into a deep hole and experienced a brilliant
tunnel of light. He also recalls a past incarnation as a pirate
with a harem off the coast of Morocco.
Eric Roberts
Internationally
renowned actor
Eric Roberts
has
starred in more than 70 films, including the
Dannion Brinkley movie,
Saved by the Light. Eric has traveled all over the world
encountering many colorful experiences. One of Eric's most
dramatic moments took place in Westport, Connecticut. He was
driving along, became distracted by his dog, and crashed. He was
hospitalized in a coma and almost died. It was this state that
Eric claimed to have had a surreal out-of-body experience.
Rebecca DeMornay
Rebecca
DeMornay
starred in the movie
thriller, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. When she was 7 years
old, she was in Mexico City, Mexico, when she got ill from a
peptic ulcer and had what she believes was a near-death
experience.
"One night the doctors told my
mother that there was only a fifty-fifty chance that I'd make it.
I remember that I was tied to three IVs but I recall getting out
of bed and looking out of the window: it was snowing. There was an
old-fashioned lamppost and barefoot children were dancing around
it, singing. I went back to bed and the next morning the crisis
was over. In 1983 I started thinking about it: "Does it ever snow
in Mexico City? Do they have these strange kind of lampposts
there?" I went back to Mexico and I didn't see those lampposts
anywhere. Nor does it ever snow there."
George Lucas
George
Lucas is the creator of the
blockbuster movie, Star Wars. Lucas is not conscious of having a
near-death experience, yet he behaves as if he'd had one. As a
youngster, Lucas was considered a punk-a non-achiever, romantic,
unathletic, unassertive, and not studious. According to his
father, he was good at only two things: cruising and hanging out.
Wanting to race cars seemed to be his only ambition. Then, three
days before he was to graduate from high school, without warning
or advance-behavior cues, Lucas was involved in a spectacular car
crash. For three days he hung between life and death and was
hospitalized for two weeks more. About the crash, Lucas stated,
"You can't have that kind of experience and not feel that there
must be a reason why you're here. I realized I should be spending
my time trying to figure out what that reason is and trying to
fulfill it."
Ozzy Osbourne
Rock
star
Ozzy Osbourne
"died twice" after a bike accident which left him in a coma for
eight days. The accident happened when he hit a pothole which was
covered in leaves. It catapulted him over the handlebars and he
tumbled down a hill with the bike landing on top of him, crushing
his chest. His bodyguard rushed to his aid and gave him mouth to
mouth when he twice stopped breathing. "If it wasn't for Sam I
probably wouldn't be here. He had to bring me back to life twice."
Ozzy said. He described his confusion he had felt on gradually
coming round from his coma. "I didn't know where I was or how long
I'd been there. I would drift in and out of consciousness. Other
times there would be a white light shining through the darkness,
but no f---king angels, no one blowing trumpets and no man in a
white beard." Ozzy, who has battled addictions to drink and drugs,
said the crash finally made him "grow up.". Ozzy stated, "You are
bopping along through life and have your ups and downs, but it is
amazing how two or three seconds can totally change your life."
Elvis Presley
People
having near-death experiences are greeted by someone - usually
someone they deeply love or the so-called Being of Light. When
Elvis
Presley died, it seemed like the
whole world mourned. He was truly loved by many people the world
over. Since then, many people have reported having Elvis sightings
where the spirit of Elvis appears as an apparition to people much
in the same way that Jesus appeared to people after his death. Not
only this, many near-death experiencers find themselves greeted,
not by a Being of Light, but by Elvis Presley. According to
Dr.
Melvin Morse in his book on near-death experiences entitled
Transformed by the Light, a 45-year old Mid-western
teacher saw Elvis Presley in an intense light during her
near-death experience. The woman had met Elvis when she was a
child. The following is her near-death account:
"I entered into a dark tunnel and suddenly I was in
a place filled up with love and a beautiful, bright light. The
place seemed holy. My father, who had died two years earlier, was
there, as were my grandparents. Everyone was happy to see me, but
my father told me it was not my time and I would be going back.
Just as I turned to go, I caught sight of Elvis! He was standing
in this place of intense bright light. He just came over to me,
took my hand and said, "Hi, Bev, do you remember me?" (Mauro,1992)
Dr.
Raymond Moody wrote an entire book on Elvis sightings,
including near-death experiences, entitled
Elvis After Life. Because of the large number of devoted Elvis
fans, it should not be a surprise that people having NDEs should
be greeted by the King.
This list copied from
http://www.near-death.com a
leading source of information about NDE's. |