Schinckel.net

It’s not been a good year to be a celebrity in Australia. With several high-profile Australians lives coming to abrubt ends, we also say goodbye to Belinda Emmett, who was married to Rove McManus. Rove is one of the best known faces on Australian TV, and his wife was at one stage a member of the cast of Home and Away. I’ve never seen this show, nor much of Emmett, but it’s always sad when a young person dies. I think the key difference between Belinda’s death and that of Brocky and the Crocodile Hunter was that these two popular Australians were actively doing something dangerous, which they did as a career, when they were killed. Irwin was filming underwater animals when he was struck through the chest by a stingray’s barb, whilst Brock collided with a tree when racing a motor vehicle. If you like, they chose to participate in dangerous activities, and ultimately eventually paid the price. Belinda did not have a choice. Several years ago Belinda was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had struggled with it, somewhat publicly since then. It was always sad to see her at various functions, a skeletal figure, with only a hint of her beauty still visible. Breast cancer is still a major killer of Australians (including some men, as it turns out), but unlike some other cancers, it’s hard to find a particular cause. Lung cancer is often caused by smoking, asbestos or other contaminants, but breast cancer, like leukemia, appears to strike somewhat randomly. Rove has stated he will not produce another episode of his popular variety program, Rove Live, for the forseeable future.