Tragedy hits every now and then in a broken world with broken people. While some people may seldom surrender to the inevitability of such ill fates, there are starkly devastating instances that leave you questioning: how much loss can a person take – really?

The case in point? American musician William Hugh Nelson, Sr. was met with the most traumatizing Christmas surprise ever; his son, William “Billie” Nelson, Jr. was found dead in his cabin in Davidson, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1991. Billie had hanged himself.

A year before this tragic incident, Billie had begun rehab for drug abuse and was faring pretty well. Who would have thought it could come to this?

The impact of the tremor was harsh enough to force Nelson to shelve a gospel album he was working on to mourn his deceased son.

Two years before Billie’s demise, the ghastly chokehold of grief seized the Nelson family when Nelson’s first wife, Martha Matthews, also died around Christmas in 1989.  Martha and Nelson were not known to have the most known rosy marriages in existence, especially because Martha once found out Nelson had been cheating on her.

Celebrities, underneath the fandom they command, the nigh-unattainable success they project, and the glitter they sport, are often crumpled in ways the paparazzi usually miss. Celebs are people. They can be broken.

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