30.12.2025, 20:1430.12.2025, 20:14
I am often asked what makes the stars, the famous and well-known, the celebrities so fascinating. The questions come from people who claim to be immune to stardust. And then someone everyone knew dies – and the answer is obvious: because the deceased gave us moments of collective emotion.
Because Ozzy Osbourne touched millions of hearts with “Dreamer” or Roberta Flack with “Killing Me Softly”. Because David Lynch‘s films or the films with Brigitte Bardot, with Robert Redford, with Claudia Cardinale filled the cinema halls for decades and fed us with images that shone through our everyday lives like little suns. Because the footballer Diogo Jota inspired entire stadiums. Because Christiane Brunner has done so much for women in Swiss politics.
Because the writer Peter Bichsel, who once said that he would probably never receive an award for his true life’s work, drinking red wine, was able to capture the essence of Switzerland so precisely in his texts. Because Giorgio Armani has dressed some of us and made our days feel good with his incorruptible Italian fashion.
In 2025, three men who I was allowed to interview in the past died: the actor Udo Kier, the queer German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, the British screenwriter Tom Stoppard. I will remember the encounters with them as enriching; they gave me joy and courage to dare to do more than just the challenges of my average life.
Of course, I had been to concerts by the German band Rosenstolz at the beginning of the 90s and had listened to one or two cassettes in connection with some love affairs. The sudden death of the singer AnNa R. was a shock. And I had met the Berlin performer couple Eva and Adele so often at Art Basel or at openings that it was difficult to imagine the art world without the two bald-headed angels. And what is “Goodbye Germany” without the unfortunate currywurst seller Hasi!
The following slideshow contains many, but of course not all, of the larger and smaller celebrities who will have left us in 2025. Feel free to write your additional heroes and the meaning they had for you in the comments section. So that our memory shrine becomes a little richer.
Celebrity dead: They all left us in 2025
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Celebrity dead: They all left us in 2025
