I believe he shot himself because he had a gun.
You Sucknow deal with it.

Isnt it amazing thatt when a celebrity overdoses on drugs or shoots themselves, it's always explained away as an "accidental overdose" or accidental self inflected gunshot wound. No so for Average Joe.
Not terribly. Fame and money has an amazing effect of changing facts to whatever the holder of fame or money wants the facts to be. That's nothing new.
Neither is a family firmly believing their loved one killed themselves. Suicide still has a terrible stigma attached to it that no one wants to deal with and the survivors generally feel guilty that they didn't see the signs or dismissed certain behavior. Denial and pain is a great motivator for blotting out the truth.

Isnt it amazing thatt when a celebrity overdoses on drugs or shoots themselves, it's always explained away as an "accidental overdose" or accidental self inflected gunshot wound. No so for Average Joe.

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I was in love with Freddie Prinze when I was younger and I loved "Chico and the Man"! I followed his career and he became a star so quickly! I always had the feeling that Kathy was an opportunist. Not that we can solely blame her for what happened, I'll bet she factored into it more than we think. I just recently viewed an old episode of him on Johnny Carson and was reminded of how young he was when he died. So tragic!

I have always thought Kathy treated poor Freddie very badly. He went into the arms of his girlfriend when Kathy threw him out after refusing to help him. I know his ex-wife Kathy for many years now who used to live in Vegas where I am now. She was already divorced from him which the court was not aware of when she sued. She told me she was glad they didn't know because legally she was not his widow but his ex-wife. The money won from the drug settlement should have gone to the son but Kathy got it and hoped to use it to further her acting career. This faded because no one would hire her. She then turn to real estate and made some money selling homes until she had to quit her last job in Albuquerque over a big row with other realtors. She's very tempermental and mean. She also turned on us, her friends for years in Vegas and fought with us over petty things. Then she made it all worse by fighting with one of our group so badly that we could not believe how crazy she is. Our group had enough and now we don't speak with her any longer. We do not know if she has new friends but I know she play on computer a lot and lives in chat rooms. This I knew from our early friendship. She is still now in Albuquerque all alone. She even had big fight with her son and his wife. They will not let her meet the baby. It's terrible, really, that her life has ended up this way. I feel so sorry for the young Freddie and the baby who won't meet her grandmoder.

And lets not forget about current young stars, dealing with the pressure of Hollywood: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan etc. Hopefully they don't suffer the same fate those others did. Hollywood seems to make people crazy, especially young people who haven't gained the right coping skills. So sad. Dave Chappelle explained on Inside The Actor's Studio, that5b4 it was pretty much the BS of Hollywood that made him leave.

True, and the story only gets worse knowing that it usually happens to the most promising and talented young actors. James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, River Phoenix, Tupac Shakur, the list goes on. What happened to Freddie Prinze is probably not any different from what happened to those people I listed. Although James Dean died in a car wreak and Marilyn Monroe's death is still a mystery. What they all have in common is that they were young and promising in Hollywood, and for a while, it seemed as though it would bring them closer to a productive life. They were wrong.
That's why a good majority of child actors have it tough because people fear that they may be getting famous too fast, too quickly. Soon they are has-beens. Shirley Temple, once she turned into an adult, quickly dropped out of the radar. Same story with Gary Coleman and a few others. Is there any particular reason why Hollywood likes to corrupt some of it's best talents? If it is really that bad, why bother pursuing it if you know it's going to make you unhappy?
It's something that I don't fully understand with actors, actresses and producers. I have watched the series Entourage and it tells a story on up-and-coming young actors trying to make a breakthrough in Hollywood. The situation and the environment presented is not something to cheer about. If that is how Hollywood really is, fast paced and willing to try anything to get it's fair share of profits, then I'm certainly glad I never set foot there.
Often the most productive actors are ones who didn't start until they were ready for it. They were willing to sacrifice and put a lot of effort, despite the fact that most people never make it in Hollywood. The entire background is really, a pretty sad fate.
Freddie Prinze certainly died too early.

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I think he was an undiagnosed manic depressant. When he got depressed the qualudes put him in deeper hole he couldn't get out of. you have to be pretty messed up in the brain to take out a gun and consider suicide anyway

I have wondered for years about that. Here was this guy who seemed to have everything and life was either miserable for him, or we have no idea what was really going on. After all, how many people really know what people are like. If he was into all these drugs, who was giving them to him? Didn't he have an friends or family? Could it have been an accident, or was he afraid of some terrible secret getting out? I just felt bad for him, he was funny and very lively. I just remember seeing him on talk shows, and through force of will he rose to get a sitcom come on, how does someone have the will to do that and then get into drugs and kill themselves? Keith Richards and Eric Clapton were heroin addicts for a long time it is said and they never killed themselves probably too a lot more drugs too. The poor kid.

Thanks, I really appreciate knowing about the book. I love biographies, and this is something that is close to my heart because of my sisters' and my mom and suicide.
Teraisa
Editor: True Crime Fanatic & Get It In Writing!
http://TrueCrimeFanatic.journalspace.com

You can probably find an old copy of the book Freddie's mother wrote, called "The Freddie Prinze Story" from 1978. It's really one of the only factual written accounts we have about his life. There's way too many rumors floating around about him. I believe there were many factors leading up to his death. In the book, it very briefly touches on how Freddie even before he was famous took pills and tried to kill himself over a girlfriend. He probably needed some sort of counseling even then, and the fame only made it all worse. Yes, he was drug addicted, which the doctors helped fuel, but I think if he had had proper counseling early on, he would have stopped the drugs altogether and been alive today. I always read that if there had been a Betty Ford clinic around then, it would have helped. I disagree. The money machine was in full motion also, unfortunatley. At the first signs of him struggling as he did, drastic measures might have prevented his death. I miss Freddie, I can still remember when I heard the news. I don't think I ever really recovered.
But the book his mother wrote is very good, I'd recommend it to anyone interested.

ok, that's mean! truebut mean!!
when all else failschocolate saves the day!

Have some respect. How can you say something like that?

"Does anyone really know the reason why Freddie Prinze killed himself in front of his son Freddie Prinze Jr, what really happened and why?"
Maybe he had this vision about his son how he would become one of the worst actors of all time.

If my memory serves me right he was addicted to drugs including heroin.

A lot of the immediate reasons have already been mentioned. Marriage failure, drugs, guns. But bottom line, as you said is the pressure of fame and quick success and the fear of quick loss of fame and money. He is not the first that Hollywood killed and will not be the last. A terrible loss, Jack Albertson looked crushed after; as I am sure all of his friends and coworkers were.
Saying drugs killed him is like saying Kurt Cobain died because he was high. Why did he take drugs? What caused the marriage to crumble? The pressures of this profession affects many differently and many very hard. His son has done some fine work so at least his legacy goes on.

I remember reading about how Joan Rivers noticed that he was doomed. She tried to urge him to go back to school or at least take some time off. Ir's sad he couldn't cope with the pressures of fame, drug use, and a failing marriage.

I would have to say it was the pressure of being in the spotlight at such a young age.

Freddie Prinze was Hungarian and Puerto Rican and that fact was a major part of his act in the early days. He was so funny and extremely handsome. His death was a loss and a shame.

'His background', meaning what? Someone without pitch black skin?
I took it to mean someone of mixed parentage. Nothing at all to do with the color of his skin.
Vic Mackey: "God creates all men equal. Out of the womb, he starts playing favorites."

'His background', meaning what? Someone without pitch black skin?
It's irrelevant anyway, since even to this day a lot of date profile sheets categorize most Latin American descended individuals, whether light or dark(with exception of the 'pitch dark' mentioned above) as white/Caucasian this being most likely due to the whole pervading "white black or yellow" mindset wherein everyone
has
to be associated with only one thing. Doesn't make it accurate, nor justifiable.

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