Natasha Richardson was reported to be “fine at first” after she hit her head in a skiing accident, but the 45-year-old actress’ health began to deteriorate within an hour.

Now sources close to the Tony award-winning actress say she is brain dead and being flown back to New York, where she will be taken off life support.

More on the sudden, incredibly sad news here.

Christopher Frizzelle was The Stranger's print editor, and first joined the staff in 2003. He was the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2016, and edited the story by Eli Sanders that won a 2012 Pulitzer...

41 replies on “Oh My God”

  1. Take it with a grain of salt, but it looks like FOX News is the only news outlet reporting that she is brain dead. Either they’re being sensationalistic, or showing absolutely no class.

    Neither would surprise me.

  3. What a loss of incredible talent on the stage. I hope the sources are wrong about the brain dead/life support part.

    I have questions about how somebody can get hurt so badly on a beginner slope during a ski lesson, though. This wasn’t just a little bump on the head.

  6. I wonder if Natasha Richardson used to enjoy a nice glass of red wine after her performances.

    You can pick up some decent reds at QFC for $8.99 a bottle.

  7. where have you guys been. this drama has been playing out for HOURS!! preemptive reports, retractions, clarifications, denials, leaks from hospitals and “friends close to the actress/family”. And it’s not only Fox with the reports.

  8. Richardson has been a major advocate and fundraiser for HIV/AIDS charities over the years. Her loss would extremely tragic.

    Hope all the brain dead reports are wrong.

  15. @3, skiing on the East coast can be waaaaaaay icier than in this area. She probably wasn’t wearing a helmet, so a fall could literally be like falling on an ice skating rink. I know from my two concussions at Killington before I finally started wearing a helmet.

  19. This happened, more or less, to a friend of mine last fall. She was bumped off her bike, stopped at a red light, by a driver at slow speed pulling up to the light, and bumped her head (sadly not wearing a helmet). She was taken to the hospital, no skull injury, and talked to people and seemed fine, then went brain dead overnight and died a couple of days later.

    This happens. It seems like it should take more than that, but it doesn’t.

  26. slashdot style registration, mod, and metamod would be good, but dicks like 4,6,25 should be pushed off an icy cliff while skiing backwards.

    You can get icy runs here too, if you go north.

  27. I lost an exgirlfriend like this. Car accident, fine, six hours later dead of cerebral hemorrhage. Blah. By the way, NR was really good in the remake of “Parent Trap.”

  31. It doesn’t look like this “brain dead” thing has been confirmed by any reputable news sources yet (not that I could find anyway). I’ve got my fingers crossed. She’s a great actress and this would be a terrible loss.

  33. @32 — I’d settle for any doctor who is actually treating her and who doesn’t start his/her sentence with, “I can only speculate, but. . .”

  37. 36, i’ve never seen anyone wear one. mind you, i haven’t skied in like…10 years or so. maybe things have changed. would make sense, though–skiing can be extremely dangerous. i came within an inch of being tree meat once, like sonny bono.

  39. If they flew her to NY, she is brain dead. No patient would be allowed to fly with brain swelling.

    The fact that they took her from the hospital to NY is BAD news.

    Pray for the family. Very Sad. ;(

  40. I live a block from the hospital she’s at (Lenox Hill). There’s the usual satellite truck forest outside on Lexington. The news-festival continues…

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