Very Sad News: Actress Adrienne Shelly Found Dead

Actress Adrienne Shelly Found Dead

American actress Adrienne Shelly was found dead at her New York City apartment on Wednesday in what appears to be a suicide. She was 40. Shelly was discovered hanging from a bedsheet by her husband Andy Ostroy, according to the New York Daily News. Police found no evidence of foul play. Shelly - real name Adrienne Levine - was best known for her appearances in the Hal Hartley movies The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. Agent Rachel Sheedy says, "She was an incredibly sweet and talented and generous woman." Police officers are awaiting an autopsy report before deciding whether to continue with investigations. Shelly is survived by her husband and three-year-old daughter Sophie.

http://imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-11-03

:cry::cry::cry:

in the 1980's. She starred in several indie Hal Hartley movies, two of the best are mentioned in the article. Her husband was Andy Ostroy, who is a progressive blogger and a good guy. http://www.ostroyreport.blogspot.com/

Our sympathies to Andy and his family...so sad.

I hope they've investigated this very, very thoroughly.
Of course, suicide rarely makes sense.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/3/apworld/20061103073004&sec=apworld

She was married to Andy Ostroy and had a 3-year-old named Sophie, according to her agent of about a decade, Rachel Sheedy. She made her screen debut in two films by Hal Hartley, "The Unbelievable Truth'' (1989) and "Trust'' (1990).

Originally from the New York area, Shelly lived in the Tribeca district in lower Manhattan with her family and had been focusing more on writing and directing lately and caring for her daughter, Sheedy said.

"She was so psyched about the film,'' Sheedy said, referring to "Waitress.'' "She gathered an amazing cast, and she was really happy and excited to hear back from Sundance about it.''

that weren't hers. I'm not buying the suicide story either. I don't think foul play has been ruled out.

An autopsy was performed the following day. Although an apparent suicide, no note was found and the New York City Police Department is investigating shoe prints in the bathtub that do not match Shelly's shoes.<2> <9> In an interview with WABC's Jeff Pegues on November 3, 2006, Shelly's husband maintained that his wife's death was not a suicide, and said that in addition to unidentified shoeprints, there was money missing from Shelly's wallet.<10> Shelly is survived by her husband and their 3-year-old daughter, Sophie.

:scared:

saying it doesn't make sense is like saying cancer makes no sense

If it were purely unrelated to life circumstance, you would see no difference between married and unmarried people's suicide rates, or employed versus unemployed people's suicide rates.

Women who have small children actually commit suicide at a lower rate -- it doesn't mean they're any less depressed, necessarily, but they do kill themselves less.

As a formerly severely depressed person with small children, I can tell you that some days it was only the need to protect and care for my children that kept me from ending it all.

(Though I don't quibble with your basic point: of course suicide doesn't make sense! (though back in the day I was convinced that depressed people were the only people who were thinking rationally...))

It is an imbalance in the chemicals in the brain and won't go away on its own.

In some cases, clinical depression goes away or is markedly better in about a year. In some cases it takes months or even years to find the correct SSRI or MAOI inhibitor in order for the person to be able to even get out of bed.

Situational depression isn't the same thing. Most people can eventually climb out of situational depression. Clinical depression needs intervention.

edit: left out a word

http://www.cinematical.com/2006/11/03/adrienne-shelly-dead-of-unknown-causes/


"Shelly was waiting to hear whether or not "Waitress" would screen at Sundance in January when she died."

Seems strange that she would kill herself when she was waiting to hear about her movie being shown at Sundance. I'm not buying the suicide story either.

suicide the person can appear quite happy and jovial. One of my sisters said she had spoken with my brother Jeff just a day before the coroner thinks he killed himself. She said he was upbeat and it was one of the better conversations they had ever had. Usually when my brother would call someone on the phone there would be periods of silence as he searched for something to say, but not this time. He was talkative and upbeat.

thinking that she would have wanted to find out if her movie was going to be shown at Sundance. She died with a question she was waiting for an answer for.

a clincial depression. I do not know if this is the case here, but suicides related to clinical depression often leave survivors scratching their heads because the deceased had something specific to look forward to.

When a very depressed person has 'made the decision', they often feel so relieved, so lighthearted and frankly, so happy.

It torments the family that is left behind because they 'didn't see it coming' and they thought he/she was getting better.

It's one of the most heartbreaking things about mental illness. The family is so desperate to break through the haze of sorrow, they grasp any indication that the beloved family member is getting better.

:hug:

People always have other explanations. The husband or wife or lover did it. There was no note (for the record, the majority of suicide victims leave no note). They had so much to live for, they had just started a new project (which is often the impetus for suicide, but that's so hard to accept people just don't believe it--the new project puts pressure on someone, or else causes them to decide they are not where they thought they should be in life). There was always something to indicate someone else did it--shoe prints, missing letters, something odd.

I don't know if it's because people don't want to believe someone they loved could do that, or if people just need to find easy-to-understand explanations, or what, but no one ever believes suicides are suicide. Look at Kurt Cobain. Look at the guy who played Superman, they are still making movies about him.

The police won't miss things like footprints in the bathtub or missing money, if those stories are accurate. Of course, it could all be a cover-up, but then a story has to crafted to explain why anyone would bother. She was an international spy, or she was sleeping with the mayor, or something. Next, someone always knows a cop who was first at the scene who said "This is a murder. No way this is a suicide." That cop is always, of course, pressured to change his story. He's usually nameless, as well.

If there was any evidence to make it something other than a suicide, the cops will chase that down, and we'll know. Cops are overly suspicious as it is. They are more likely to invent crimes where none exist than to ignore one with overly obvious evidence.

Either way, RIP, Shelly.

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It is still very common for people to question suicides.

http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_306192615.html

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK "Prosecutors have charged a man with murdering actress Adrienne Shelly, who was found hanging from a shower rod in her West Village office last Wednesday, CBS 2 News has learned. Sources tell CBS 2’s Ti-Hua Chang a construction worker has allegedly confessed to the crime.

Police have charged 19-year-old Diego Pillco, of the 300-block of Prospect Avenue in Brooklyn, with second degree murder. Sources tell CBS 2’s Ti-Hua Chang that Pillco, a construction worker, apparently confessed to the crime.

Pillco allegedly punched the 5-foot-2 actress after she complained about the noise he was making in the West Village apartment building where her office is located, killing her.

He then allegedly admitted to dragging the body up to her office, and positioning her in the shower to make her death look like a suicide."

More....

said there were no signs of trauma.

depression (and wanting to die despite seemingly having everything to live for). I had just heard about the story on the local news (I live in NY) and looked it up as I was going through this thread. Sorry, if it came across that way - after I went through this thread again, I realized it looked like I was responding to you directly - I should have answered the OP.

For some reason, I wasn't buying the official story in this case for some reason - I can't really explain it, it's more like an instinct. I just hope that the person who did it is removed from society for a long time. It's sad that someone with such a promising life ahead of them and a 3 year old daughter was needlessly murdered because some jerk couldn't control his temper.

it doesn't seem to matter who or what the person is going to leave behind. They can't see that far. Their brain is only allowing them to see bleakness. It's terrible. I'm not familiar with this actress, but it's quite sad to hear about.

My cousin committed suicide in 2001. He left behind a wife and teenage son. He was supposedly depressed for a long time, but his death shocked us all.

"Trust" is one of my favorite movies. This is truly sad.....

"The Unbelievable Truth" was one of my favorite indie pictures growing up. This is so tragic.

:cry: