A famous author was saved by a fictional family and then wrote a novel about it
Meg Mason on Nancy Mitford, a lonely teenager, and the strangest thing to happen to this entire field this year.
The GuardianRead →
Three grief experts on whether it is normal to mourn a celebrity
Stylist asked the question out loud so you would not have to.
The fact that a mainstream women's magazine had to put that question to three professionals tells you how much damage the discourse has done. The answer is yes, obviously yes, and the interesting part is what the experts say to do with it, which is almost never what you want to hear. Nobody who went to a funeral this year was ever told to get a grip.
Notice, name, choose. That's the whole method.
The clerk's shelf - how this got here first
Sources
Is it normal to mourn the death of a celebrity? 3 grief experts explain ↗
Stylist · 24 SEP 2026
Where this sits in the encyclopedia
Grieving a person you never metCollective mourning of a public figure, and the persistent argument about whether it counts. Measured in studies of soap opera finales finding grief…The wax masks in the hallA Roman aristocrat had a wax mask of his own face taken while he was alive - usually in his thirties or forties, on taking office - and it was kept…Grief as a product surfaceThe feature requests of a dead person, the licensing, the posthumous releases, the reunion tour built from a member who cannot appear, and the…Grief merchandiseApparel, prints and objects released after a death, quickly, at a profit.
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We all have one. You know their dog's name, their coffee order, and absolutely nothing about them
A widely-shared explainer on why every single person has a parasocial relationship and why most of them are fine.
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When a famous person dies it can feel like losing someone you loved
The Guardian ran this on the exact week Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem and Liam Payne died. The timing is not the story. The timing proves the story.
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A woman died in Seoul and by the next day the argument was about whether the fandom was toxic
The pivot from a death to a discourse about ourselves, in about a day, in front of a diaspora that had to watch it happen.
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