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© Getty Images
0 / 30 Fotos
Kurt Cobain
- Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994, at the age of 27. He was known to struggle with mental illness and addiction and was reportedly high when he died. But many believed that Cobain’s death was even more complicated, and may have involved his wife, Courtney Love. The 2015 documentary ‘Soaked in Bleach’ claims that Love had Cobain murdered because their marriage was on the rocks.
© Getty Images
1 / 30 Fotos
Kurt Cobain - Ironically, Love also believed that Cobain had been murdered, but by someone else, of course. Files released by the FBI years later showed that Love had hired a private investigator to find out who killed him. Evidence, in general, supports both theories—it’s speculated that Cobain had banned substances in his system to pull the trigger when he died.
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
Steve Jobs
- The Apple founder passed away in 2011 after battling pancreatic cancer, shocking fans and colleagues who hadn’t known about his diagnosis. Since then, there have been frequent frenzies around Steve Jobs lookalikes. It’s true that a few photos have circulated of men that bear an uncanny resemblance to Jobs.
© Getty Images
3 / 30 Fotos
Steve Jobs - Jobs was of Syrian descent and supposedly loved Middle Eastern culture. When a doppelgänger popped up in Egypt in 2019, some fans theorized that he faked his own death to get away from the spotlight and moved to Cairo.
© NL Beeld
4 / 30 Fotos
Aaliyah - Aaliyah died tragically in a plane accident at the age of 22. The private jet she was traveling in crashed in the Bahamas on August 25, 2001, killing her and the nine other passengers. It was later revealed that the plane was overloaded, which contributed to the crash.
© Getty Images
5 / 30 Fotos
Aaliyah
- Mary J. Blige made some strange comments in an interview with The Guardian a few years later, suggesting that Aaliyah’s death wasn’t an accident. She claimed that “they” were coming for her next: “I don’t know how or when, but I’m next. I don’t know what kind of freak accident they’re going to put me in, or what kind of overdose they’re going to sort out, but at the end of the day, I knew I was next.” That was in 2005 and Blige is still going strong.
© Getty Images
6 / 30 Fotos
Michael Jackson
- Michael Jackson died suddenly of an overdose on prescription medications in 2009, shocking the world. His private doctor administered the deadly dose and was charged with manslaughter in a landmark trial.
© Getty Images
7 / 30 Fotos
Michael Jackson
- The timing of his death and the scandal that surrounded the King of Pop during his life led to many conspiracy theories. Some say that he was murdered, a theory supported by his daughter Paris who commented that “a lot of people” wanted him dead in 2017 and suggested she was looking for justice, although she hasn’t mentioned this since.
© Getty Images
8 / 30 Fotos
Michael Jackson
- Other theories claim that Jackson faked his own death because he was half a billion dollars in debt and wanted to escape his financial woes. Some even say that Jackson is actually living as the conceptual artist Dave Dave, whom he was friends with early in his career.
© Getty Images
9 / 30 Fotos
Princess Diana
- Princess Diana was perhaps the most famous woman in the world when she died prematurely in 1997. She died in a car accident in Paris along with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. Rumors circulated their deaths were actually orchestrated by the British royal family due to their disintegrating relationship with the People’s Princess.
© Getty Images
10 / 30 Fotos
Princess Diana
- Theorists claim that Diana and Fayed were engaged and that she was pregnant with his child, essentially bringing a Muslim into the royal family due to her role as the mother of the future king (Prince William), something the royals allegedly wanted to avoid at all costs. Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, has perpetuated this theory for many years.
© Getty Images
11 / 30 Fotos
Tupac
- Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and died six days later. Two rival gang members were named as the shooters, but there have long been theories that the rapper is still alive somewhere.
© Getty Images
12 / 30 Fotos
Tupac
- He was in a well-known rivalry with the Notorious B.I.G., who some say ordered his murder, while others believe he faked his own death and moved to Cuba. As recently as 2022, conspiracy theorists have raised the possibility again, noting that there are more and more high-quality photos of the rapper that were supposedly taken before his death in 1996, but they argue that it was impossible to take such crisp photos at the time.
© Getty Images
13 / 30 Fotos
Elvis Presley
- The King passed away from heart disease in 1977 at the young age of 42. His father ordered that the results of his autopsy be sealed for 50 years for privacy, meaning they will finally be made public in 2027. A couple of different theories about the icon’s death have persisted, however, the most absurd being that he was abducted by aliens! Ray Stevens released the song ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’ in 1994 to poke fun at those who believed the outlandish theory.
© Getty Images
14 / 30 Fotos
Elvis Presley
- A second theory is that Presley was working as a secretagent for the FBI. Those who believe this one claim that he had to be put into witness protection. That theory was somewhat squashed when the FBI released 750 reports they had on the singer, and none of them mentioned any spy activities!
© Getty Images
15 / 30 Fotos
Marilyn Monroe
- Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose on August 4, 1962. The 36-year-old was known to be struggling with depression and substance abuse. However, her sudden death came just a few months after her infamous birthday tribute to President John F. Kennedy. Rumors that the two were having an affair are well known, and some theorize that her death was arranged to prevent any embarrassment for the powerful Kennedy family.
© Getty Images
16 / 30 Fotos
Marilyn Monroe
- There are also theories that Monroe was killed for knowing too much about the alleged criminal underbelly of the Kennedy family, perhaps by their enemies in the Chicago mob.
© Getty Images
17 / 30 Fotos
John F. Kennedy
- The conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are perhaps the most famous. JFK was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade through Dallas in 1963. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the murder, but was shot by a devastated Kennedy supporter while being transported by police.
© Getty Images
18 / 30 Fotos
John F. Kennedy
- Many struggle to believe that Oswald managed to pull off the perfect crime in spite of the intense security measures and police presence in Dallas that day. Any president is a target for assassination, and Kennedy was particularly divisive. Some say that Oswald wasn’t acting alone, while others believe it was the work of the CIA, the Soviets, or even extra terrestrials.
© Getty Images
19 / 30 Fotos
Buddy Holly
- Rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly was tragically killed in a plane crash at the age of 22. The musicians Ritchie Valens and JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson were also killed in the accident, and that terrible day on February 3, 1959 was dubbed “The Day the Music Died.”
© Getty Images
20 / 30 Fotos
Buddy Holly - For decades, there have been theories that there was more to the crash than a simple accident. Some claim that Holly had been carrying a gun with him for protection, and fired it at his fellow passengers during the flight, which led to the crash. The son of JP Richardson actually had his father’s body exhumed in 2007 to prove that there were no bullet wounds, but the conspiracies have persisted.
© Getty Images
21 / 30 Fotos
Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne rose to fame in the early 2000s with her hits 'Complicated' and 'Sk8er Boi’ and became the alternative teen idol of the Britney Spears era. Lavigne’s popularity dropped after a few years, but she remained a pop culture icon and is still releasing new music. Or at least that’s what most people believe.
© Getty Images
22 / 30 Fotos
Avril Lavigne - A group of fans/conspiracy theorists who call themselves the “Avril Rangers” claim that the singer actually died and has been replaced with a lookalike. They claim that an actress called Melissa Vandella, who apparently was hired to draw paparazzi attention away from Lavigne, actually ended up taking over her life when the singer died shortly after the release of her first album. They believe that Vandella has been posing as Avril Lavigne for around 20 years now!
© Getty Images
23 / 30 Fotos
Brian Jones
- Brian Jones was one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, but was kicked out of the band in 1969 due to instability and rampant substance abuse. A few months later, Jones died at the age of 27, reportedly by drowning in his own swimming pool while drunk and high.
© Getty Images
24 / 30 Fotos
Brian Jones
- There have been multiple theories about the nature of Jones’ death. One stated that he got into an argument over money with a builder working on his house, who subsequently murdered him. Some even believe that his former bandmates arranged his death.
© Getty Images
25 / 30 Fotos
Paul McCartney
- Paul McCartney is one of two surviving members of the Beatles, but there’s a conspiracy theory that claims he actually died long before his bandmates. Theorists believe that McCartney died in a car accident in 1966, shortly after the album ‘Revolver’ was released.
© Getty Images
26 / 30 Fotos
Paul McCartney
- Not wanting to upset the public or disrupt the band's meteoric success, McCartney was supposedly replaced with a lookalike. Proponents also claim that subliminal messages can be found in the song lyrics and album covers released after the fake McCartney took over.
© Getty Images
27 / 30 Fotos
Melania Trump - When Donald Trump became president in 2017, theories started to circulate that the First Lady, Melania Trump, had been replaced by a lookalike. The purported reason was either that she was dead, or refusing to attend public events with a husband than many believed she despised.
© Getty Images
28 / 30 Fotos
Melania Trump
- The theory was bolstered when Melania Trump didn’t appear in public for five weeks in 2018 and the White House refused to comment on her absence. She was reportedly undergoing a minor medical procedure, but that excuse didn’t satisfy the conspiracy theorists. The fact that her level of affection toward her husband in public varies greatly is also seen as a sign that it’s not the real Melania. Sources: (WatchMojo) (Listverse) See more: Weird and wonderful celeb superstitions
© Getty Images
29 / 30 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 30 Fotos
Kurt Cobain
- Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994, at the age of 27. He was known to struggle with mental illness and addiction and was reportedly high when he died. But many believed that Cobain’s death was even more complicated, and may have involved his wife, Courtney Love. The 2015 documentary ‘Soaked in Bleach’ claims that Love had Cobain murdered because their marriage was on the rocks.
© Getty Images
1 / 30 Fotos
Kurt Cobain - Ironically, Love also believed that Cobain had been murdered, but by someone else, of course. Files released by the FBI years later showed that Love had hired a private investigator to find out who killed him. Evidence, in general, supports both theories—it’s speculated that Cobain had banned substances in his system to pull the trigger when he died.
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
Steve Jobs
- The Apple founder passed away in 2011 after battling pancreatic cancer, shocking fans and colleagues who hadn’t known about his diagnosis. Since then, there have been frequent frenzies around Steve Jobs lookalikes. It’s true that a few photos have circulated of men that bear an uncanny resemblance to Jobs.
© Getty Images
3 / 30 Fotos
Steve Jobs - Jobs was of Syrian descent and supposedly loved Middle Eastern culture. When a doppelgänger popped up in Egypt in 2019, some fans theorized that he faked his own death to get away from the spotlight and moved to Cairo.
© NL Beeld
4 / 30 Fotos
Aaliyah - Aaliyah died tragically in a plane accident at the age of 22. The private jet she was traveling in crashed in the Bahamas on August 25, 2001, killing her and the nine other passengers. It was later revealed that the plane was overloaded, which contributed to the crash.
© Getty Images
5 / 30 Fotos
Aaliyah
- Mary J. Blige made some strange comments in an interview with The Guardian a few years later, suggesting that Aaliyah’s death wasn’t an accident. She claimed that “they” were coming for her next: “I don’t know how or when, but I’m next. I don’t know what kind of freak accident they’re going to put me in, or what kind of overdose they’re going to sort out, but at the end of the day, I knew I was next.” That was in 2005 and Blige is still going strong.
© Getty Images
6 / 30 Fotos
Michael Jackson
- Michael Jackson died suddenly of an overdose on prescription medications in 2009, shocking the world. His private doctor administered the deadly dose and was charged with manslaughter in a landmark trial.
© Getty Images
7 / 30 Fotos
Michael Jackson
- The timing of his death and the scandal that surrounded the King of Pop during his life led to many conspiracy theories. Some say that he was murdered, a theory supported by his daughter Paris who commented that “a lot of people” wanted him dead in 2017 and suggested she was looking for justice, although she hasn’t mentioned this since.
© Getty Images
8 / 30 Fotos
Michael Jackson
- Other theories claim that Jackson faked his own death because he was half a billion dollars in debt and wanted to escape his financial woes. Some even say that Jackson is actually living as the conceptual artist Dave Dave, whom he was friends with early in his career.
© Getty Images
9 / 30 Fotos
Princess Diana
- Princess Diana was perhaps the most famous woman in the world when she died prematurely in 1997. She died in a car accident in Paris along with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. Rumors circulated their deaths were actually orchestrated by the British royal family due to their disintegrating relationship with the People’s Princess.
© Getty Images
10 / 30 Fotos
Princess Diana
- Theorists claim that Diana and Fayed were engaged and that she was pregnant with his child, essentially bringing a Muslim into the royal family due to her role as the mother of the future king (Prince William), something the royals allegedly wanted to avoid at all costs. Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, has perpetuated this theory for many years.
© Getty Images
11 / 30 Fotos
Tupac
- Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and died six days later. Two rival gang members were named as the shooters, but there have long been theories that the rapper is still alive somewhere.
© Getty Images
12 / 30 Fotos
Tupac
- He was in a well-known rivalry with the Notorious B.I.G., who some say ordered his murder, while others believe he faked his own death and moved to Cuba. As recently as 2022, conspiracy theorists have raised the possibility again, noting that there are more and more high-quality photos of the rapper that were supposedly taken before his death in 1996, but they argue that it was impossible to take such crisp photos at the time.
© Getty Images
13 / 30 Fotos
Elvis Presley
- The King passed away from heart disease in 1977 at the young age of 42. His father ordered that the results of his autopsy be sealed for 50 years for privacy, meaning they will finally be made public in 2027. A couple of different theories about the icon’s death have persisted, however, the most absurd being that he was abducted by aliens! Ray Stevens released the song ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’ in 1994 to poke fun at those who believed the outlandish theory.
© Getty Images
14 / 30 Fotos
Elvis Presley
- A second theory is that Presley was working as a secretagent for the FBI. Those who believe this one claim that he had to be put into witness protection. That theory was somewhat squashed when the FBI released 750 reports they had on the singer, and none of them mentioned any spy activities!
© Getty Images
15 / 30 Fotos
Marilyn Monroe
- Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose on August 4, 1962. The 36-year-old was known to be struggling with depression and substance abuse. However, her sudden death came just a few months after her infamous birthday tribute to President John F. Kennedy. Rumors that the two were having an affair are well known, and some theorize that her death was arranged to prevent any embarrassment for the powerful Kennedy family.
© Getty Images
16 / 30 Fotos
Marilyn Monroe
- There are also theories that Monroe was killed for knowing too much about the alleged criminal underbelly of the Kennedy family, perhaps by their enemies in the Chicago mob.
© Getty Images
17 / 30 Fotos
John F. Kennedy
- The conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are perhaps the most famous. JFK was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade through Dallas in 1963. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the murder, but was shot by a devastated Kennedy supporter while being transported by police.
© Getty Images
18 / 30 Fotos
John F. Kennedy
- Many struggle to believe that Oswald managed to pull off the perfect crime in spite of the intense security measures and police presence in Dallas that day. Any president is a target for assassination, and Kennedy was particularly divisive. Some say that Oswald wasn’t acting alone, while others believe it was the work of the CIA, the Soviets, or even extra terrestrials.
© Getty Images
19 / 30 Fotos
Buddy Holly
- Rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly was tragically killed in a plane crash at the age of 22. The musicians Ritchie Valens and JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson were also killed in the accident, and that terrible day on February 3, 1959 was dubbed “The Day the Music Died.”
© Getty Images
20 / 30 Fotos
Buddy Holly - For decades, there have been theories that there was more to the crash than a simple accident. Some claim that Holly had been carrying a gun with him for protection, and fired it at his fellow passengers during the flight, which led to the crash. The son of JP Richardson actually had his father’s body exhumed in 2007 to prove that there were no bullet wounds, but the conspiracies have persisted.
© Getty Images
21 / 30 Fotos
Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne rose to fame in the early 2000s with her hits 'Complicated' and 'Sk8er Boi’ and became the alternative teen idol of the Britney Spears era. Lavigne’s popularity dropped after a few years, but she remained a pop culture icon and is still releasing new music. Or at least that’s what most people believe.
© Getty Images
22 / 30 Fotos
Avril Lavigne - A group of fans/conspiracy theorists who call themselves the “Avril Rangers” claim that the singer actually died and has been replaced with a lookalike. They claim that an actress called Melissa Vandella, who apparently was hired to draw paparazzi attention away from Lavigne, actually ended up taking over her life when the singer died shortly after the release of her first album. They believe that Vandella has been posing as Avril Lavigne for around 20 years now!
© Getty Images
23 / 30 Fotos
Brian Jones
- Brian Jones was one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, but was kicked out of the band in 1969 due to instability and rampant substance abuse. A few months later, Jones died at the age of 27, reportedly by drowning in his own swimming pool while drunk and high.
© Getty Images
24 / 30 Fotos
Brian Jones
- There have been multiple theories about the nature of Jones’ death. One stated that he got into an argument over money with a builder working on his house, who subsequently murdered him. Some even believe that his former bandmates arranged his death.
© Getty Images
25 / 30 Fotos
Paul McCartney
- Paul McCartney is one of two surviving members of the Beatles, but there’s a conspiracy theory that claims he actually died long before his bandmates. Theorists believe that McCartney died in a car accident in 1966, shortly after the album ‘Revolver’ was released.
© Getty Images
26 / 30 Fotos
Paul McCartney
- Not wanting to upset the public or disrupt the band's meteoric success, McCartney was supposedly replaced with a lookalike. Proponents also claim that subliminal messages can be found in the song lyrics and album covers released after the fake McCartney took over.
© Getty Images
27 / 30 Fotos
Melania Trump - When Donald Trump became president in 2017, theories started to circulate that the First Lady, Melania Trump, had been replaced by a lookalike. The purported reason was either that she was dead, or refusing to attend public events with a husband than many believed she despised.
© Getty Images
28 / 30 Fotos
Melania Trump
- The theory was bolstered when Melania Trump didn’t appear in public for five weeks in 2018 and the White House refused to comment on her absence. She was reportedly undergoing a minor medical procedure, but that excuse didn’t satisfy the conspiracy theorists. The fact that her level of affection toward her husband in public varies greatly is also seen as a sign that it’s not the real Melania. Sources: (WatchMojo) (Listverse) See more: Weird and wonderful celeb superstitions
© Getty Images
29 / 30 Fotos
Famous celebrity death conspiracy theories
From FBI cover-ups to alien abductions
© Getty Images
Celebrities take up so much space in the world that a cavernous gap is left behind when they die. The natural response from the public is an attempt to fill that gap with stories to make sense of it. Accidental overdoses, sudden heart attacks, and random plane crashes just don't seem like fitting ends to such impactful lives. Instead, some prefer to believe that there are mysterious forces at play behind the scenes.
That being said, death conspiracies can also pop up about famous figures who are still alive! The bodyswap is a particularly popular theme and usually purports that the real celebrity has died and been replaced with a lookalike.
Intrigued by all this? Then click through this gallery to learn about the most shocking and bizarre death conspiracies surrounding the biggest celebrities.
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