It's been a bad week to be a celebrity. Days after we lost Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Ozzy Osbourne . . . and on the same day musician Chuck Mangione died . . . we lost Hulk Hogan.
He died yesterday at the age of 71. Medical personnel were sent to his home in Clearwater Florida to treat a cardiac arrest. He ended up at a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hogan was the biggest star in the history of professional wrestling, and was instrumental in making it the multibillion-dollar industry it is today.
After appearing as Thunderlips in "Rocky 3", he won the World Wrestling Federation championship in 1983, and the business reached heights it never had before.
His feuds with rivals like "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant, and the Macho Man Randy Savage were legendary.
And even after it seemed like his star had faded in the late '80s and early '90s, he jumped ship to WWF rival WCW, forming a group called the New World Order and once again became the hottest name in wrestling.
No other wrestler before him, or since, aside from The Rock, has been more recognizable around the world.
Following the success of the recently-departed Ozzy Osbourne, Hogan and his family entered the reality TV business with "Hogan Knows Best", which ran from 2005 to 2007 on VH1.
There were scandals, of course. Exactly 10 years before his death, on July 24th of 2015, tabloids posted audio of Hogan using the N-word while complaining about his daughter Brooke dating black men.
That audio was part of a SEX TAPE that was partially leaked by Gawker.com in 2012. The tape consisted of Hogan having sex with the wife of his best friend, who had "loaned" her out to him and filmed the action.
Hogan ended up winning a major lawsuit that bankrupted Gawker.
In his last appearance for the WWE, on the January 6th episode of "Monday Night Raw", he was booed HARD. He was trying to hype his Real American Beer.
At the time of his death, Hogan was working with former wrestling promoter Eric Bischoff on a LEGIT wrestling outfit called Real American Freestyle, which is hosting its first event on August 30th.
Hogan is survived by his third wife Sky Daily, and his kids Nick and Brooke, from his first wife Linda.
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(Check out tributes from President Trump, V.P. JD Vance, Sylvester Stallone, wrestling legend Ric Flair, and others here and here. And here's the official statement from the WWE.)