Where were you when you heard the news?

[Pitooey]

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news that Freddie shot himself?

I remember...... i was working in Wall Street and I received a call from a friend in the afternoon that Freddie shot himself.

[hue_mee]

What I remember of that day was that the news broke that Freddie passed away and I remember my dad telling my mom who was taking a bath that Freddie had died. I can also remember the newspaper reports on Freddie's death and the follow ups regarding his death in the newspaper. My mother was tired of the fact of them mentioning Freddie (as a result of what happened) My parents, especially my mother loved Freddie's comedy but were tired of hearing about the shooting. I cried and was in shock and could not believe it, and didn't want to believe it.

[tylersmistress2002]

When I think about this...I realize just HOW MUCH he meant to me because I was in 8th grade at the time....and I hardly remember ANYTHING from that time in my life... I mean.... face it.... It was a LIFETIME ago.... but THIS I REMEMBER.... I was on the school bus....on my way to school.... my next door neighbor said she hear Chico shot himself and was dead..... I DIDNT BELIEVE IT... I thought it was a hoax... and I didnt give it another thought... until I got home and saw the look on my mothers face.... she was a fan too and she knew how badly I was going to take it. It sounds silly...making yourself sick over someone you didnt even know...but thats what I did.... I was physically ill for two weeks... See, I was very much a loner and well.... an ugly duckling... u know how awkward kids can be at 12... Chico was the one thing that made me smile....the one thing I looked forward too... Hec, there were no VCRS back then so I used my cassette recorder and had the shows on cassette.... It was a sad sad time and I will never forget where I was when I heard it.

[victorianscribe]

I was on a school bus, too -- on the way home from school. My two friends told me the news, but I didn't believe it, and when I got home and told my Mom, she thought I was telling a bad joke. Later, she said she reacted the same way when she heard the news of JFK's assassination. One of the worst parts was that I had no way to find out for sure whether or not the news was really true. This was before CNN and twenty-four-hour-a-day news, remember, so I had to wait until the news came on at five or six o'clock to hear it for myself. Sad times.

[Cheryl Harrell]

I remember I went to school the day he died z& a friend of mine told me he died. I was like Huh, you must be kidding. He was doing okay on CATM. She said no he committed suicide & died & she said when she found out she cried. I remember wondering what would've caused him to kill himself & thinking it was sad & bad as it upset a teenager. I later read he did it cuz his wife was gonna divorce him. So sad. I wasn't a fan yet at the time but enjoyed the show...

[Luckymama58]

I was in college at the time and I had just come back from somewhere, maybe class. All I wanted to do was kick up my heals and relax and listen to the radio. It was then that the announcer came on and told us of Freddie being in the hospital from a self inflicted gun shot wound. They were talking about his career and all, trying to make sense of what had happened. I dunno why, but all I could see is Freddie sitting on the stairs in Ed Brown's garage, sorta slumped over with his head in his hands.... the sound stage was dark and he was all alone. I cried and cried and prayed that somehow he would be spared. There was that little glimmer of hope because he hadn't died right away. I was remembering back to 1971 and how everyone was soooo sad about Peter Duel and how he shot himself in a fit of despair. All I kept thinking was "what in Hollywood drives these promising young stars to such depths of depression?" I had missed the third season of the show because I didn't have a TV in college so I missed what had been happening to him. After it was over, I was angry. Angry at Freddie, angry at the system, angry at life. I had been suicidal when I was 15-16 and now being on the other side of it at 18 I didn't know why he had given into the thoughts. And all the time I could see him sitting on those stairs going up to Ed's apartment and crying, all alone in the dark. After a few weeks I prayed he was at peace and let him and the whole thing go and got on with my life. I didn't give Freddie much thought till my teenage daughter started getting into this young star called Freddie Prinze Jr. I couldn't help but tell her that if she thought the son was something, she should have seen the father in action. Then E! did that piece on his life and we watched it and I tried to gain some understanding on what happened back over 20 years ago. Then I got sick from bronchitis and was on the couch for a week, flipping channels and seeing what was on when the advertisement came on for theTVLand CATM marathon weekend. I was glued to the set, showing my daughters what I meant by seeing Jr.s father in action.

[Pitooey]

On the actual day that Freddie died. I was also heartbroken. I was home at the time. I remember the day before praying and praying that Freddie would live.

The news was saying that if he lives he could be a vegetable because the wound was so bad. I was even thinking and praying "Let him be a vegetable - I don't want him to die"..... At least he will be alive..... Looking back now..... that's how much I loved Freddie. That I wanted him to be a vegetable and still be with us somehow. I was young and selfish back then. I don't think that's how Freddie would've wanted to live his life. I just wanted him to live so badly.

[Luckymama58]

OMG I was the same way JennyLee. I guess we didn't want to let him go, no matter what.... plus I think we were young enough to believe that if he was a vegetable and alive, someone, somewhere could repair the damage and make him all better again. It was an innocent and naive time, wasn't it?!