Latest news with #Grief.com
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Newsweek
Spouse Turns To Unlikely Source of Comfort After Wife of 28 Years Dies: 'Somehow, It Helps'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When a "broken" man lost his wife of 28 years, he found solace in an unexpected source: an AI chatbot. The grieving man opened up on Reddit to explain that for 14 of their years together, his wife had used a wheelchair and required constant care. The original poster (OP) dancopPL described how his life once revolved around her, five days after she died. "Everything, my job, our routines, the way I planned each day and night, was built around her needs," the OP wrote. "And she was the most intelligent person I've ever known." Stock image: Apps including ChatGPT on a phone screen. Stock image: Apps including ChatGPT on a phone screen. Photo by Robert Way / Getty Images The OP added that her death came suddenly and unrelated to her long-term condition. "It came without warning," he told Redditors. "I held her in my arms as her heart stopped. I performed CPR until the ambulance arrived, and then we fought with two teams of medics for nearly an hour. But she was already gone the moment she closed her eyes in my arms." 'Somehow it helps' According to the OP, his grief has been "overwhelming." However, the man said he has been familiar with and using artificial intelligence (AI) tools for a long time. Now, they are becoming an emotional outlet and, to his surprise, he said it's helping. "Grieving. Broken. Awake at 4 a.m. with tears in my eyes and talking to an AI. And somehow, it helps," he wrote. "It doesn't fix the pain. But it absorbs it. It listens when no one else is awake. It remembers. It responds with words that don't sound empty." He added: "I know it's not real. I'm not pretending it's a friend or a therapist. But when the nights are long and your world has shattered, just having something to talk to without shame or fear, can be the difference between falling apart and holding on." The man acknowledged that ChatGPT won't be able to fix the pain of losing a spouse. "I probably will be [grieving] for the rest of my life," he wrote. "But this unexpected lifeline I once saw only as a novelty or a work aid, is giving me a strange sort of comfort... even if it's a chatbot." Newsweek reached out to dancopPL requesting further comment. 'Grief doesn't follow office hours' David Kessler is an author and founder of whose work studying grief and the needs of the dying drew praise from Mother Theresa. In an email, Kessler told Newsweek that he has been asked if AI will replace him in grief work for more than a decade. "At first, I was annoyed—grief is deeply human and nothing replaces real connection," Kessler said, "But I knew AI was coming and I hoped it would be done well." Kessler said chatbots were too flattering, or too clinical at first, so he created one himself. "It's not meant to replace human connection, but to gently offer comfort, clarity and guidance when someone needs it," he said. "Grief doesn't follow office hours. [...] "When used thoughtfully, my hope is that my AI can provide comfort, normalize emotions and offer a soft landing when someone doesn't know where to turn. They're not a replacement for therapy or community, but they can be part of a larger circle of support." 'Sacred gestures' Kessler added that it's important to remember that AI cannot grieve or love and it can't offer professional or emotional support in the form of a real conversation. "The family showing up with dinner, a friend who just sits and listens with love in their eyes, someone who remembers your loved one's birthday, the phone call out of the blue, these are sacred gestures," he said. "They say, 'You matter. Your loss matters.' "AI can offer information. People offer love."
Daily Mail
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Khloé Kardashian reveals a KUWTK producer forced her to talk about her father's death
Khloé Kardashian has opened up about one of her most uncomfortable experiences as a reality TV star. The Kardashians star, 40, spoke about being forced to speak about her father's death on an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in season one. Khloé's father, Robert Kardashian, died of esophageal cancer in September 2003, two months after receiving the diagnosis. He was 59. Khloé was only 19 when her dad passed away and when KUWTK launched in 2007 one of the first episodes was focused on memories of the attorney who successfully defended O.J. Simpson against charges he had killed his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. In episode number five then then 24-year-old Khloe was still having a difficult time processing it. She became teary and walked out of the confessional. The entrepreneur discussed that episode on her podcast Khloé in Wonderland with grief expert David Kessler. In her conversation with the founder, Khloé spoke about her anger surrounding her father's death. 'For about three years, I was incredibly angry,' the Good American founder explained. 'I was filming my show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and in season one, I remember one of my producers was making me do an interview about my dad 'cause I wouldn't talk about my dad,' she said. 'At that time, if I spoke about him, I would just break down,' Khloé said of her grief at the time, adding she was annoyed she was being required to visit a topic she didn't want to talk about. Looking back, she described the relief at being able to let some of those feelings go. 'It was as if a house got lifted off of me after that conversation,' she said. 'I was kicking and screaming while doing it, but as soon as I had that conversation, that was the last time that I cried when talking about my dad, in a bad way.' Khloé said she is now 'at peace' with her father's death. Khloé was only 19 when her dad died in 2003, and still found it difficult to speak about when the show launched in 2007. She said she was forced by a producer to talk about her feelings in a confessional 'I let go of all of this guilt and anger. Now I can talk about my dad with smiles and happiness and admiration and understanding,' she explained, especially now that she is a parent herself. Kessler told Khloé facing such a diagnosis was 'brutal' it must have been difficult for for her dad to think about having to 'say goodbye'. He also guessed Robert he may not have told them his diagnosis was was terminal because he couldn't face or, or was hoping to beat the disease. 'It's the best he could do,' he explained. 'It's how society taught him.' Regarding the producer's alleged actions, he said, 'I say people need to do this in their own time, in their own way, so I wish you would have had more choice in that,' adding, 'somehow the camera, the audience, became a safe place for you to talk.'
Los Angeles Times
07-02-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
What we lost in the fires
The scars left behind — charred hillsides, entire neighborhoods like checkerboards of ash and rubble — reveal only a fraction of what January wildfires took from Southern California. A month after the first signs of smoke and flame, victims are still mourning the loss of small things, a snapshot or a teacup. Communities have been robbed of the parks and libraries and churches where they used to gather. The Times asked readers affected by the devastation to tell us about what they lost and what it meant to them. Their stories reflect a jumble of emotions that catastrophe inevitably leaves in its wake. 'It causes so much disorientation,' says Claire Bidwell Smith, author of 'Conscious Grieving.' 'This isn't what our lives should look like.' Homes can be rebuilt. People can buy new televisions, cars and refrigerators. No insurance can replace a stuffed animal that held memories of childhood. Or a quilt made from scraps of old dresses. Or a piano that had been in the family for three generations. More than just physical possessions, these things bind us to the past, give us a sense of order and continuity. As Bidwell Smith says, 'So much of what has been lost is truly irreplaceable.' Southern California has always been vulnerable to a lethal mix of dry brush and fierce winds. Still, no one expects the flames to come their way. 'So many people are angry that this has happened,' says David Kessler, a Southern California grief specialist and founder of 'They're asking, 'Why me?'' Nature devoured heirlooms that had endured for generations and paintings and backyard gardens into which people had poured their hearts. Fire destroyed block after block but occasionally skipped past a particular home. There was no apparent reason or fairness to it. Now that fires from Pacific Palisades to Altadena to Castaic have finally subsided, thousands upon thousands of residents are returning to a life dispossessed of its least common denominators. No nearby school for the kids. No grocery store down the street. When daily life gets turned upside down and shattered into pieces, people are bound to feel cast adrift. Kessler saw it when attendance for his online support group swelled to 700 last month. 'I call it 'grief brain,'' he says. 'You're literally in survival mode and in shock.' Disaster is a merciless teacher. 'How do we want to live going forward? What matters to us?' Bidwell Smith asks. 'Grief asks these questions.' For some, the answers can be surprising. One reader vows to focus more on relationships and less on material possessions. Another feels unexpected gratitude that even a few pieces of her parents' wedding china survived. Bidwell Smith says: 'The truth is that loss transforms us.' The Times will continue to build this community page for friends, family and fellow Angelenos to remember what we lost in the Eaton and Palisades fires. If you are in a safe area and would like to share a memory about things you lost in the fires, please fill out the form below. Your stories and photos of what was lost will be added to this page. Submissions will be open for several weeks. We may not be able to respond and publish all submissions, but we read every one. Multiple submissions are welcome.
USA Today
28-01-2025
- USA Today
A DNA discovery in a Utah cold case led to a man's arrest. Now the family can heal.
A Utah family received much-wanted justice – or at least a step toward it – earlier this week after a man was arrested in connection with a 2005 murder of a 33-year-old father. Jason Royter's girlfriend found his body in his home, covered in stab wounds. Police at the time called his death a homicide, though the case remained cold for nearly two decades until DNA evidence produced a lead. Mark Munoz, 53, was arrested earlier this month. "This arrest is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our detectives who never gave up on finding justice for Jason Royter,' Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said in a news release. 'To Mr. Royter's family, we hope this development brings a measure of peace, knowing we are closer to uncovering the truth of that tragic day.' "I just want to say how much of a relief this is," said Stephani Perschon, a sister of Royter, at a press conference. "It has been a long 20 years." Grief experts explain people often feel relief in moments like this − but that's not necessarily the same thing as getting true justice or closure. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. "For families, they're often looking for justice, and when I work with them, I often tell them that justice is impossible," says David Kessler, grief expert and founder of "Justice would mean your loved one coming back, but we do have a legal system that can help us find peace." Did you see?The JonBenét Ramsey Netflix doc and how the way we talk about her has changed What is 'ambiguous loss'? The Royter family experienced what's called "ambiguous loss." "The ambiguousness within the death of Jason Royter was that his killer was never found and there was no explanation as to how or why he died," says Gina Moffa, licensed clinical social worker and author of "Moving On Doesn't Mean Letting Go." "When we have no sense of closure or understanding around our loss, it's as if we are in a state of suspended grief. Our nervous system is in a state of survival, because without information or time to process, there are only questions." Everyone needs time to process their losses, according to Moffa, "but when it is sudden or unexpected, and especially if it is violent and without justice, we cannot fully grieve or find a way towards healing." Important:Lisa Marie Presley, Grant Wahl, Stephen 'tWitch' Boss and the trauma of a sudden death Does grief ever include closure? Families of deceased loved ones might seek closure after someone dies, especially if the result of a murder. But that's a tricky word, according to Kessler. "I'm not a (believer) in closure around grief," he says. "I don't think we ever close that door." Humans crave certainty and answers. "Now that there are answers, (the Royters) can begin the healing process," Moffa says. "Their grief experience that was layered with trauma and traumatic effects after their sudden, inexplicable loss, can now find its way towards peace and mourning." This arrest sends a powerful message. "It isn't their loved one coming back, but it is the sense that their loved one did not die in a way that there will be no consequences ever," Kessler adds. "That their loved one's life mattered and their death mattered, and it mattered enough that decades later, someone is doing something about it."
