# 2023 SDMB Celebrity Death Pool **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831 "2022-12-01T04:02:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 86
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1701 "2023-10-10T22:02:05Z")
Sometimes celebrity ages just surprise me. When she was in the midst of her Olympic glory, I was 9. In my 9-year-old mind, Mary Lou Retton was a grown up, might as well have been 30 years older than I was. So in the ensuing 40 years, I just assumed she was by now well into her senior citizenship. Nope, only seven years older than me. 😮 ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1702 "2023-10-10T22:11:08Z")
And 8 years older than me. I had a similar thought to yours when I read that. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1703 "2023-10-10T22:20:41Z")
[Charles Francis (Chuck) Feeney](https://www.honoraryunsubscribe.com/chuck-feeney/), founder of a duty-free store empire and the James Bond of Philanthropy who gave away practically his entire $8 billion fortune while still alive, dead at 92. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1704 "2023-10-11T00:10:00Z")
I’m sure this will be as much of a shock to other Aus/NZ death poolers as it was to me. Comedian [Cal Wilson](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-11/comedian-cal-wilson-dies-agd-53-following-illness/102962284) has died at 53 after a short illness. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1705 "2023-10-11T01:20:04Z")
That’s the way to do it. Good guy. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1706 "2023-10-11T05:25:55Z")
So shocked to hear of this. Cal Wilson was already a favourite of mine when she was starting out back in NZ, we were the same age, then came to Australia at around the same time, and she interacted with me on social media a few times too. I even got to make her laugh. A tragic loss to antipodean comedy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1707 "2023-10-11T15:22:15Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Sometimes celebrity ages just surprise me. When she was in the midst of her Olympic glory, I was 9. In my 9-year-old mind, Mary Lou Retton was a grown up, might as well have been 30 years older than I was. So in the ensuing 40 years, I just assumed she was by now well into her senior citizenship. > > Nope, only seven years older than me. 😮 ☹ I (older than her) had exactly the opposite thought, that she was still in her 40’s, the eternal kid still doing triple flips and such. How da **fyuck** is she _fifty-fucking-five_?!? Meanhoo I have top athletes that I recall watching when they were in their prime hitting 80+ and constantly shuffling off the mortal coil every year. Jack Nicklaus is 83 and can barely swing a club anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1708 "2023-10-11T16:21:14Z")
What I want to know is how is it that she’s uninsured? How does that happen? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1709 "2023-10-11T17:04:26Z")
Some insurance plans max out or put limits on types of treatment. And insurance companies have people whose job it is to figure out how to not pay for stuff (forcing hospitals to have staff whose sole job is to fight to get insurance companies to pay out). ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1710 "2023-10-11T18:00:16Z")
Retton just started appearing on some kind of commercials (daytime TV, my curse!) and I thought _“Holy Shit! She does not look well.”_ Now I know. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1711 "2023-10-11T19:00:35Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Retton just started appearing on some kind of commercials (daytime TV, my curse!) and I thought _“Holy Shit! She does not look well.”_ Have a link to one of these commercials? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1712 "2023-10-11T19:12:48Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > What I want to know is how is it that she’s uninsured? How does that happen? Are you perhaps not an American? It’s not uncommon here. Many people are insured through their employer. Paying a medical insurance policy for yourself is really expensive. A person in their fifties in reasonably good health might choose a relatively low-cost policy that doesn’t cover more expensive treatments. Or choose not to have medical insurance and hope they don’t need medical care. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1713 "2023-10-11T19:23:54Z")
Still, you would think that a celebrity, even a past one, would have money for insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1714 "2023-10-11T19:31:08Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Still, you would think that a celebrity, even a past one, would have money for insurance. Some people are rich and famous. Some are rich and unknown. Some are poor and famous. The last one is the worst thing to be. You don’t have to go far to find washed up actors who are still recognized who haven’t worked for years. It’s a hard transition and many don’t have other marketable skills. I don’t know MLR’s life but I know she hasn’t done much in the public spotlight. She couldn’t translate her fame into much of a career past the few years after the Olympics. It doesn’t surprise me that she wouldn’t have money. She performed in an era where you couldn’t make any money until you left the sport and then you had a short shelf life. At least now top Olympic athletes can earn money during their career. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1715 "2023-10-11T20:18:20Z")
In trying to find out what she had been doing lately work-wise, I looked at her [wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lou_Retton) and found this disheartening tidbit (bolding mine). > When the _Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017_ was introduced to the 115th Congress, she and other members of USA Gymnastics met with the bill sponsor, Senator [Dianne Feinstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein), **with the aim of convincing her to drop the bil** l. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1716 "2023-10-12T00:38:58Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Have a link to one of these commercials? Here you go: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vcs9yx8xT0U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vcs9yx8xT0U) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1717 "2023-10-12T01:46:15Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Here you go: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vcs9yx8xT0U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vcs9yx8xT0U) I…don’t think she looks too bad there at all. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1718 "2023-10-12T02:08:36Z")
> **[A 104-year-old woman dies before Guinness can confirm her record as oldest...](https://www.npr.org/2023/10/11/1205280562/104-woman-dies-skydiving-record)** > > Dorothy Hoffner, 104, went skydiving Oct. 1 and died Monday in her sleep. Guinness World Records is still working to confirm if Hoffner broke the record for the oldest person to jump from a plane. > **[Kevin Phillips, strategist who forecast rising Republican power, dies at 82](https://apnews.com/article/kevin-phillips-political-strategist-obituary-64ba583ba24e4c8ca84658d42b83f304)** > > Kevin Phillips, the author, commentator and political strategist whose landmark 1969 book, “The Emerging Republican Majority,” became a blueprint for GOP thinking in the 1970s and beyond, has died. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1719 "2023-10-12T03:11:35Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Here you go: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vcs9yx8xT0U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vcs9yx8xT0U) Is that, like, irony? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831/1720 "2023-10-12T05:10:31Z")
Seemed fine to me too. Maybe a bit more Holly Hunter-esque than I was expecting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831.md?page=85) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2023-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/975831.md?page=87)