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00:00a pop music phenomenon with an unbeatable combination of talent and looks his first
00:18three singles all reached number one on the charts an accomplishment no other artist has
00:23ever achieved and he did it all before his 20th birthday
00:30yeah he could have been a mega star you know i just it was just there but behind his teen idol looks
00:37and million dollar smile the boy who wanted to be everything to everybody was destroying himself
00:43with alcohol and drugs he could do anything anything at all that he could put his mind to
00:48the only thing he couldn't do was stop drinking or stop taking drugs to the outside world he had
00:52everything to live for but just five days after his 30th birthday andy gibb was dead
00:58tonight a vh1 exclusive for the first time the bgs chronicle how their little brother was devoured
01:07by fame he was a great artist out of control and his personality and his emotions just couldn't deal
01:14with what was going on around him and the success that he had andy's mother talks candidly about how
01:19alcohol and drugs consumed her youngest son when he was you know under the influence that wasn't him
01:25until that was somebody else took over the wife and daughter few knew andy had say his life in the
01:31spotlight left them lost in the shadows he was on the front of all those teeny proper magazines and
01:37i suppose they had to give the perception that he was available as they do and the love of his life
01:42reveals the heart-wrenching ultimatum that ended their relationship i asked him either to choose me or to
01:49choose drugs and that i know with all his heart he wanted to choose me he chose drugs and for the
01:56first time ever an unreleased song from andy gibbs final recording session
02:00tonight the demons behind the angel face andy gibb the story behind the music
02:14andy gibb was talented and successful famous around the world as a top-selling pop star
02:40but on march 10th 1988 fans would receive the shocking news that the seemingly charmed life of
02:47andy gibb was over singer andy gibb who along with his three older brothers became a prominent part
02:53of the music world in the 1970s died today in a hospital in england tabloids would brand his death
02:59a cocaine overdose the coroner blamed the heart condition but his family and those who knew him
03:04best believe it was a kind of slow suicide a deadly combination of low self-esteem drug addiction
03:11and too much too fast too young he never grew up never grew up it was just like peter pan
03:20he was just like a little boy all his life he was a baby all his life he was a great artist
03:27out of control and his personality and his his emotions just couldn't deal with what was going
03:36on around him and the success that he had andy gibb was born in 1958 in manchester england
03:41the youngest boy in a close-knit musical family of six his parents played in a big band mother barbara
03:48was the singer father hugh the band leader but jobs for musicians were scarce in the working-class town
03:54and soon the family struck out for australia for a fresh start and a brand new life
03:59robin and maurice are you all together hey it wasn't long before the oldest brother barry and
04:08the twins maurice and robin started harmonizing together as the brothers gibb soon to be known
04:13simply as the beegees growing up andy was constantly in tow tagging along behind his talented older
04:26brothers but he was always closest to barry even though they were 10 years apart
04:30andy was very much uh uh emulated barry a lot you know and he thought a great deal of his older brother
04:37you know so it was he had a sort of a hero worship for him maurice and robin were twins so they always
04:43had each other andy was someone i could always talk to and always talk to me and because both of us
04:48sort of had a sense of isolation so um in growing up so um we were extremely close
04:55the bg soon developed their own distinctive style and by 1967 had gone from being an australian
05:06phenomenon to international pop stars andy was always close by taking it all in he used to stand
05:13in the middle of them when they were rehearsing make them really mad you know you move him yeah
05:18but uh yes he always liked to be where they were singing with them
05:22caught up in the whirlwind of his brother's success andy wanted a music career of his own
05:33and barry was there to help when andy was 13 barry bought him his first guitar when he was 16 barry
05:39introduced him to the man who engineered the bg's astonishing rise to fame music impresario founder
05:45of rso records robert stigwood that's the important administrator i thought he was sensational
05:52for two years andy honed his talents in the bars and clubs of australia when he was 18 stigwood
05:59decided his protege was ready for the big time he summoned andy to america to cut his first record
06:05i thought well if anyone can do it uh if anyone can make andy a star it's robert stigwood but the
06:11young performer faced a dilemma a shot at stardom in america or true love in australia for two years
06:18he'd been involved with kim reader you could rely on him you felt very safe with him um and great
06:24sense of humor so it was always a lot of fun kim says andy was determined to have his career and her
06:30he asked her to marry him he said we'll just have to get a wedding arranged and that's all there was
06:36to it i don't even recall saying yes it was just that's what we have to do kim and andy just 18 years
06:42old were married on july 11th 1976 within weeks the teenage newlyweds were living in california
06:49and andy was in the studio recording his first album
06:52that was when it was that was when he was at his best that was when he was at his best at that age
07:05wanting to be successful not having the success but having the hunger the music was all music was
07:11everything and the music was making andy a star six months after arriving in america i just want to
07:18be your everything was the number one song in the country and his debut album flowing rivers was
07:23climbing the charts andy had followed his brother's roadmap for success but he wasn't prepared for
07:28the dangers just ahead
07:30in early 1977 andy gibb was 19 years old newly married and his debut album flowing rivers was on
07:43the way to selling a million copies andy was a huge hit with the teeny bopper crowd and soon his picture
07:55was covering the walls of teenage and preteen girls around the country he was an overnight sensation but
08:01this was no solo effort his brothers the bgs were guiding his career every step of the way i believe
08:07i owe it chiefly to my brothers who produce my records my brother barry who helps me you know if i had trouble
08:13writing any song he'd always put me in the right direction yeah and he's always steered my career
08:18barry wrote produced and sang back up on andy's first number one single the next one love is thicker than water
08:26barry and andy wrote together we were extremely close and that's why we ended up making records together
08:31it just seemed like the natural way to go as andy's career was climbing his brothers were riding high on
08:37their second wave of fame it was early 1978 and the bgs had started a disco revolution with the
08:43soundtrack for saturday night fever for two months that year the gibb family would dominate the top spot
08:52on the billboard charts first the bgs grabbed number one was staying alive only to be bumped by andy's
08:57love is thicker than water two weeks later the bgs were back on top with night fever
09:02the success was a family affair but andy struggled for his own identity beyond the long shadow cast by
09:12his brothers i still think he thinks that he still had to prove himself to be as good as we were
09:18in many ways or to gain the same success you know i think there'll always be that kind of brotherly
09:24sibling type of rivalry but andy quickly discovered that escaping the bg connection was nearly
09:30impossible now here's the youngest of your brothers his name's andy it's their younger brother andy
09:34andy gibb please welcome my younger brother andy gibb
09:38we were in dallas once and as we were driving from the airport it looked at the hall they were going
09:53to you know the arena had andy gibb and underneath it had younger brother of the bg's he went crazy
10:00you know he got his his personal assistant to go and get it taken down and things like that would
10:06upset him like it or not as the younger brother of the bg's andy got noticed he became a regular
10:12on tv talk shows and even there his brothers were a favorite topic of conversation what did you learn
10:20from your brothers i don't know it's nothing you could actually say pinpoint that i learned it's just
10:26a general experience of just handling everything just being around them you know i never really mixed
10:31with people my own age i was always around them in television studios you know and dish concerts
10:35and tours by the time andy was 20 he was meeting with presidents and socializing with the stars
10:43he was nominated for two grammy awards he won a people's choice award he sold millions of records
10:49around the world and he had done it all in under two years i think he must have had it in his mind
10:54what it was going to be like but i don't think he knew how to deal with it once it happened
10:59his brothers have been there before they knew the dark side of early success and even had a name for
11:05it first fame first fame is um a very dangerous thing and you believe what you read about yourself
11:13you believe what people say about you you believe that you have something very special to say and that
11:18god's talking through you and the public need to know you know and um so this happens to you when you
11:23become famous for the first time especially at an international level so i think he was uh i think
11:29he was a little crazy for him you know for a while people are always patting you on the butt you know
11:34in those times you know handing you a joint putting a spoon under your nose hey i did coke with andy gib
11:39you know what i mean there's always somebody that wants to be there just because you're famous not
11:44because you're you not because you earned it young naive and struggling to find his own identity
11:50andy succumbed to temptation he had a very weak um personality and saying no to these things and
12:00didn't really say any harm he felt good doing it so he didn't think he was doing him any harm
12:04andy's growing passion for drugs was changing him into a different person the sweet enthusiastic boy
12:10was unrecognizable when he was high his mother barbara would watch in horror as cocaine transformed her son
12:16into a stranger when he was you know under the influence that wasn't him at all that was somebody
12:23else took over but the next day he'd be back apologizing to everybody he didn't know what he'd
12:28done but he would be sorry he knew he'd done something wrong and he'd be sorry andy's young
12:33wife kim could see changes in him too but says she was slow to realize that the difference was caused
12:38by drugs i was pretty ordinary person came from a regular sort of home in australia in sydney and you
12:46know um drugs and those sorts of things weren't part of most people seeing andy was spending long
12:57periods on the road hanging out with a new crowd of people for the most part kim says she was left
13:02behind and she's convinced andy's promoters wanted it that way articles in the teen magazines would
13:08seldom mention a mrs give kim believes keeping her hidden was a deliberate effort to protect andy's image
13:14as a teenage heartthrob he was on the front of all those teeny popper magazines and i suppose they
13:22had to give the perception that he was available as they do despite the long separations and his
13:27cocaine binges andy and kim struggled to make the relationship work a year into the marriage kim gave
13:33andy the news she hoped would get him to settle down and sober up she was pregnant we planned to have
13:40four kids and everything was going to coast along just normally like everybody else andy promised to
13:47make things better it was a promise he couldn't keep two months into her pregnancy kim gave him an
13:53ultimatum get off drugs and spend more time at home or she was leaving that's exactly what it was meant
14:00to be exactly um an ultimatum that you know um you have to sort out exactly what you want in life
14:08but kim says nothing changed in june she headed home to australia and as she left she says andy
14:14made one more promise that he'd be there for the birth of their child but it was another promise he
14:20wouldn't keep their daughter peter was born on january 25th 1978 he didn't come and his personal
14:28assistant at the time rang the hospital and spoke to me when peter was born to find out if she was
14:33a girl or a boy and um then i didn't hear from him for some time kim and andy were divorced a short
14:41time later he wouldn't see his daughter until she was two years old and would be their only meeting he
14:47was having problems with his marriage i don't even know i don't even know what went wrong there either
14:52you know except that without to make it no matter what kim was gone and before long andy was back
14:58in the studio recording his next hit next andy's battle with drugs rages on he finds a new love
15:06and faces another ultimatum i asked him either to choose me or to choose drugs and his life goes into
15:12free fall i have been to hell and back i suppose literally later a song from andy's final recording
15:20session that's never been heard before
15:26when behind the music continues 20 year old andy gibb had gone through major changes in his life
15:34his wife had left him he'd fathered a daughter he'd never seen and he was struggling with a growing
15:40drug and alcohol problem
15:41andy moved to miami to be near his brothers in the recording studio despite his personal problems
15:51his career was going strong in june of 78 he set a pop music milestone that stands to this day
15:58when his single shadow dancing hit number one he became the only artist ever to have his first three
16:04singles top the charts
16:09but for andy the proudest moment may have come in july of 78 when the brothers who had guided him for
16:14so long for the first time were joining him on his own stage
16:24i think there's always been a little bit of andy and everything we do you know it's like i think he had
16:28in that in him too the following year it was andy's turn to sing at a bg's concert but his family says
16:35andy still didn't feel he was the equal of his brothers to him the rivalry would never really end
16:49always wanted to prove things on his own he always wanted to prove himself without us you know helping
16:54him or him being part of bg and he was adamant about doing that in the fall of 78 there was a new
17:01person in andy's life who could relate to his conflict feelings marie osmond also had a family
17:06of famous brothers andy and marie formed a strong bond and started dating and i think that andy felt
17:12that he had something to prove i think that i felt i had something to prove too to be a part of this
17:19family but to find your own individuality uh within it i think that was difficult for
17:24andy i think he always wanted to be a part of them yet he didn't quite feel a part of them
17:42although they stayed friends for years the romance was brief andy was heading down a different and
17:47dangerous path he began spending lavishly he bought a 58-foot yacht fancy cars he charted private
17:55planes and charged them to his record company he was running up an enormous debt and his family
18:00suspected cocaine was fueling the outrageous behavior they tried to intervene when i would
18:05talk to andy about it you know he'd be going yeah you're right you're on i've got to start making
18:08some changes and stuff like that and it would last half an hour and then i see him come back in the
18:13room sniffing his nose again you know and i think okay well he's not ready you know you help us you
18:18help us because that person really has to cure themselves it doesn't other people can't do it
18:24you know you have to decide that you have that you want to be clean you want to be straight andy refused
18:29his brother's help and soon moved away from miami and his family's watchful eyes he settled 3 000
18:36miles away in malibu california and when he once he realized that everyone in miami was trying to
18:44stop him from um doing it then he moved to la in 1980 he released a third album after dark and a
18:51greatest hits lp but his record sales were slipping and the cocaine abuse was affecting his ability to
18:57work after months of fighting to get andy straight and keep him sober rso records president robert stigwood
19:03made the painful decision to drop andy from the label i tried and tried and uh
19:12absolutely broke my heart even with his recording career in ruins andy remained a regular on tv talk
19:20and variety shows an appearance on the john davidson show in february of 1981 would change his life the
19:26one person in the world that you would like to meet it would be victoria principal from dallas
19:30andy had admired actress victoria principal from afar and said in a magazine interview that he'd like
19:36to meet the beautiful star of the popular nighttime soap dallas he had said some very nice things about
19:41me and i had jotted off the note uh to him saying that i really appreciated the nice things he had said
19:49and in my usual fashion had not mailed it and it remained in my purse with a stamp on it so i thought
19:56i'd just bring it over because i hadn't mailed it they went out three days later and within weeks
20:02were nearly inseparable well it's going to sound rather dramatic but andy was simply the nicest
20:07person i've ever known victoria was 30 andy just 22. many at the time considered the relationship
20:15scandalous but andy was happy and his family hoped victoria would give him the focus he'd been missing in
20:20his life i think his uh his relationship with victoria principal was absolutely beautiful
20:27it was everything he dreamed of and that's the only important thing here it's not what i think or
20:31anybody else thinks andy thought the world of her with his new love andy seemed to find the confidence
20:37to recharge his career he landed a job co-hosting the rock and roll variety show solid gold my next
20:44guest is not only a beautiful and talented actress but she's a very special friend
20:58he taped solid gold during the day at night he was taking his first shot at musical theater
21:03starring in the pirates of penzance
21:05his co-star was pam dauber andy was truly one of the sweetest souls he was so unassuming it was the
21:17summer of 1981 andy's career seemed to be back on track but victoria would soon discover that success
21:24was dangerous territory for andy she began to see the changes in his personality that his family had been
21:30witnessing for years well it became very apparent to me that his behavior was becoming erratic and that
21:36he was very very thin and andy was a very kind person and a very gentle person and hit some of his
21:43behavior seemed so the it seemed the antithesis of who i knew him to be and um of a period of deduction
21:52it it finally i finally realized that it had to be drugs the drug abuse sparked arguments
21:59the arguments fueled more drug abuse andy stopped showing up for tapings of solid gold and the
22:05producers were finally forced to fire him it was the same story at pirates of penzance night after
22:11night andy just wouldn't show up and when the production hit the road they left andy behind
22:17but his co-star pam dauber stayed in touch and tried to help him with his addiction he wanted to
22:23quit and he would say he would quit but he couldn't seem to quit he was in pain over his drug problem
22:30the only place andy seemed to find peace was near the ocean sailing or fishing during his short
22:36stretches of sobriety he would go down to the beach at malibu and cast out his line his joy of really in
22:43the fish and and just the simple act of fishing was so extraordinary and so palpable i remember
22:50stopping at that moment and asking god to please give him that peace to please allow him to to
22:57connect with that and to find a way to live that over and over again it it it broke my heart the
23:04torment that he went through after more than a year of dealing with andy's addiction victoria forced
23:10the issue andy faced another ultimatum from a woman he loved i asked him either to choose me or to choose
23:18drugs and i know with all his heart he wanted to choose me he chose drugs without you there ain't no love
23:30the breakup with victoria left andy emotionally shattered for months he was a recluse drinking
23:38and using drugs like never before spending up to a thousand dollars a day on cocaine for about 12
23:45months he was devastated we had a bad time with him and he'd cry for hours and hours nearly six months
23:51would go by before andy found the strength to face his fans in july of 82 he appeared on good morning
23:57america to confess his drug and alcohol abuse it was his first public appearance since the split
24:03with victoria i have been to hell and back i suppose literally you you did in fact have a nervous
24:09breakdown is that correct yes i had a very very bad nervous breakdown actually andy bared his soul
24:15blaming the breakup for his decline i want to tell a story now i turned to drugs for a month
24:20i did quite an awful lot of cocaine which i no longer do i gave up everything i i started missing
24:28tapings of solid gold i would not turn up for tapings very bad boy i didn't care i didn't care
24:34about people i didn't care about life i thought so much of the girl and i still do it just i just fell
24:38apart it put me in an incredible position of a terrible dilemma because to speak out on my own behalf
24:46and to reveal the fact that the problem had been ongoing and that was the reason for the breakup
24:53would have been to add to the already tremendous burden that andy was carrying and so i chose to
24:59remain silent totally off the drugs totally off drugs for a few months andy really did seem to be
25:07off drugs and he landed another job this time as the lead in the broadway production of joseph and the
25:12amazing technicolor dreamcoat opening night was extraordinary his brothers barry and morris came
25:21to see his broadway debut it was one of his proudest moments he got great reviews but the very next night
25:28andy called in sick he used to say it was because of his soap but of course it wasn't
25:35and they they you know they brought that for a while and then they realized what was happening
25:40i would come get him out of bed you know he would just his door would be locked and he couldn't come
25:45out over the next six weeks andy called in sick 12 times and was forced to leave the show
25:52it happened he'd break his heart because he was sorry but then it had happened again you see so many
25:58times once again andy was out of a job and facing an uncertain future
26:03by the time he was 25 andy gibbs drug and alcohol abuse had destroyed his career as a pop star a tv host
26:12and a stage actor but he managed to find a new outlet for his talent he played vegas nightclubs
26:18and took his show on the road to small venues around the country
26:21a devoted fan shot this home video at a resort in new york's catsteel mountains it was a big
26:33come down from his glory days but andy gave the audience his all he did love to perform to live
26:39audiences he liked the response especially in vegas where he used to get standing evasions after
26:44every show you know you look that this is a new audience for you a much older audience totally new
26:54now how does that affect what you do out there on stage well unlike concerts you have to be a little
27:00bit more intimate well he promoted the new act on good morning america and once again andy told
27:05joan london and the world he was drug free and ready for a fresh start so it's not true that there
27:10is still a drug problem no and there is no drug problem today i only had one drug problem in my
27:14life and i'm never going to get through anything but the truth was andy was about to head into one
27:19of the worst periods of drug abuse in his life and again his mother was there to witness it she says
27:25during his binges he was a tyrant ordering his staff to get cocaine for him if they failed he fired
27:31them if they refused he threatened not to perform that's what he would threaten them he wasn't going to
27:37go on stage if they didn't get him some of course everybody running around flustered trying to find
27:42some i don't know where they got it from but somebody always managed to get it for him sometimes his
27:48mother says he would demand to be taken to the hospital but she never knew if he was really sick
27:52or just hoping to get his hands on more drugs he wanted some kind of drug or something because if
27:59you're in pain they give you a shot of damaral or something you go to sleep and i think that's what he
28:04was uh he never said he was but that's you know i got to a point where when i take him into the
28:10hospital and he said he had the pain i'm not believing him he was crying wolf again but years
28:16of drug abuse were taking their toll on andy's health high on cocaine his heart would race he'd
28:21have pains in his chest his cardiologist dr william shell says andy was doing permanent damage to his
28:27heart these weren't heart attacks in a lay sense they were heart attacks in the sense that he destroyed
28:32small amounts of heart muscle after countless warnings from doctors andy finally sought professional
28:38help for his addiction he spent six weeks at the betty ford treatment center in southern california
28:43but the drinking and cocaine binges started up again almost immediately
28:49finally in the spring of 87 andy got serious about getting sober he checked into another drug rehab
28:55center and joined alcoholics anonymous his longtime friend marie osmond says she'd never seen him look so
29:01healthy he said you know what marie he said i'm i i'm a member of aa and i love it i know i'm an
29:12alcoholic and i and i know it's a problem and i know i can beat it he says i can do it he goes i'm
29:20off drugs i'm clean he says it feels so great i'm so happy but the years of excess the cars the boats and
29:28especially the drugs had left him broke in september of 1987 andy filed for bankruptcy citing more than
29:35a million dollars in debts his income had fallen from two million a year at the height of his career
29:41to less than eight thousand dollars in 1986. i think that was a dashing blow to andy i think it was a
29:48crippling blow to him i i don't think he survived that i think he was there was a he was embarrassed by it
29:58andy moved back to miami back to the family fold his brothers put him up in a condominium and gave
30:06him a small allowance barry and andy became closer than they'd been in years they spent hours playing
30:12tennis but on the court barry began to suspect something was wrong with his little brother we
30:17would play tennis and we'd play five or six sets and he'd get very sort of flushed and red and i didn't know
30:22why you know and and what he wasn't telling me was that he really shouldn't be doing this no one knew
30:29just how serious his condition was least of all andy he wanted to get back to work he was still young
30:39he still had his voice and he wanted one more shot at being a pop star and once again his brothers were
30:45there to help the fact that we'd done it together in the first place was um what brought him back
30:50that you know let's do it again you know let's go in the studio again and this time you know i'll
30:56i'll you know i'll i'll keep my grip and i'll be and i'll hold on i won't slip again you know the
31:02brothers wrote and produced four new songs with andy at their recording studio in miami the special
31:07chemistry they'd had before was back and the new songs got andy at heel with island records in london
31:12but the company wanted andy to write more new songs and he moved to england to get to work
31:19hour outside london andy had a cottage all to himself on the edge of these lush and peaceful
31:24grounds it was supposed to be a quiet retreat a place where he could concentrate on writing new
31:30songs but he'd never had much success writing on his own and without the help of his brothers the
31:35ancient walls began closing in the pressure built and andy was beginning to crack but you can't just
31:42make yourself right you know it's not not something you can just sit down and do because somebody
31:46tells you to um he couldn't he got a block and he couldn't write and that upset him that upset him
31:55very very much robin would make regular visits to andy's cottage offering to help any way he could
32:02i had to keep reassuring him that you know of his talent and you know and build up his confidence
32:08it actually affected his mind that he had to really start again i don't think he could feel
32:13like he wanted to start again andy's behavior began to change he was keeping to himself and robin
32:20suspected the worst and he wouldn't come out of his college for days leave miss appointments
32:24uh he missed he wouldn't take phone calls there was something going on i couldn't figure out what
32:30was going on and uh i got on to robin and robin said don't come mom you're babying him too much he's
32:37fine but i was on that plane the next day because i knew something was wrong march 5th 1988 andy's 30th
32:46birthday celebration was a party of two just he and his mother she knew he was deeply depressed he missed
32:52his brothers he missed home but he'd made a commitment he kept walking in and out and said
32:59i might as well be dead there's nothing going on this was because there's nobody there you see he
33:05didn't need really need to be away from his family and we didn't really want him away from us and i think
33:11he went into a decline because of that the anxieties and insecurities that had consumed andy all his life
33:17were back in reaching a crisis point his need to prove himself on his own to live up to the
33:22family name and the nagging fear he just didn't have what it takes he escaped the pressure the
33:27way he had so many times with the one drug he could find in a quaint rural english town alcohol
33:34he was drinking again he was drinking definitely he was getting those little tiny bottles he was
33:39ringing the little liquor store in tame at two o'clock in the morning for a bottle of vodka these
33:45people were dead they close at 10 o'clock nobody everybody goes to sleep and uh and we thought
33:52this was terrible he was going back to america he couldn't stand it back in miami barry and morris
33:58tried to help each taking a turn with a long distance plea for andy to stop i called him up and
34:04robin said he couldn't because he was drunk and i said i will sod him then and i put the phone there
34:10and i never spoke to him so i never forgave myself for that for a long time i thought i should have
34:16spoken to him you know barry called andy too having no idea it would be the last time he would speak to
34:22his little brother the last thing that happened between me and andy was an argument which is
34:28devastating for me because i had to live with that all my life and there was a phone call between him
34:32and me and i was sort of saying yeah you've really got to get your act together and this is no good and
34:36instead of being a gentle about it i was angry and because someone had said to me at some point
34:43you know tough love is the answer you know so for me it wasn't you know because that was the last
34:49conversation we had so um so that that's my regrets that's what i live with andy continued drinking
34:56heavily ignoring the pleas of his family to stop he was to the point where he couldn't even stand up
35:02he couldn't be kept falling down and he was he smashed his face against the wall lost all his team
35:10oh it was just a mess i mean i could go on and on and then my mother had to be there to see it
35:15she was a nightmare for her he didn't even he wasn't even aware of his existence anymore
35:20on march 7th andy became violently ill and suffered stabbing pains in his chest and abdomen
35:26paramedics rushed him to the local hospital but the english doctors were unaware of the long-term
35:31damage that drugs and alcohol had done to andy's heart they never contacted his doctors in america
35:38i thought that the physicians in london would have been well served by talking to some of us
35:43because some of these events were pretty frightening they probably could have aborted
35:47one of these events if they'd known what the treatment was
35:53andy was admitted to the hospital twice in the next three days the second time his mother sensed
35:58something was different and she didn't want to leave him alone
36:04i said i'd stay with him you know i thought bring me the paper i'll stay here all night
36:10but she wouldn't let me you see they don't let you know england he can't stay in the ward all night
36:15so i had to go and i said i'll be back in the morning well she said well you know you'd better
36:20go because he'll sleep all night now we've given him something to sleep and he was he was fast asleep
36:25it was the last time she would ever see her youngest son alive the next morning the doctor went in and
36:32said do you mind if we take some more blood md and he said no another time the doctor turned around and
36:38went he gave one big sign of gun
36:40the cause of death was listed as myocarditis an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart
36:54even though the autopsy found no drugs or alcohol in andy's system the tabloids immediately called his
36:59death a cocaine overdose but his family knew that drug abuse had killed andy it just took a decade to do
37:05it when he died it was nothing to do with drugs at all but the damage had been done through the
37:10drugs you say in the first place march 10th 1988 five days after his 30th birthday andy's life was over
37:20and the people who loved him were left to wonder why the boy who had it all seemed determined to throw
37:25it all away whatever the demons and inner torments that had driven andy give to self-destruction
37:34his tortured life was over at the age of 30. I don't think he liked
37:39the world that was going on out there so he kind of constructed his own
37:44which in the end when he did have to deal with the real world it was kind of hard for him
37:49andy was laid to rest in his adopted home of los angeles on march 21st 1988 the family coping with
37:56the cruelest kind of loss older brothers saying goodbye to the youngest parents bearing a child
38:02he said it'll get easier but he doesn't
38:07i regret that we didn't spend more time that we were always too busy
38:12and of course you always have that after somebody's gone you always feel remorse because
38:16you could have given them more time um you could have there were things you could have said you
38:22didn't say and vice versa well i hope people remember how he's how remember particularly his kindness
38:27because he helped a lot of people he just couldn't help himself when friends got news of his death
38:35many were shocked but few were surprised i had to live for many years with the awareness it wasn't
38:42if andy would die it would be when andy would die i felt like he died from broken heart which is so sad
38:49but i felt like he he just checked out he couldn't do it anymore the question on everyone's mind was
38:56why he seemed to have it all talent looks wealth and fame but what andy never found was what he needed
39:04most peace and happiness andy had everything he had fame and popularity and the money and anything you
39:12could want but he was still empty it is terribly hard to cope with he got devoured because he was the
39:23current celebrity for andy's ex-wife kim and daughter peter the memories are distant but the connection
39:31with him remains strong through his ups and downs and loves and loss andy had always stayed in touch
39:37with the family he left so long ago one of his phone calls that he made um he did tell me that
39:43um a day not a day went by that he didn't think of us my main memories of him are on the phone and he
39:49was always you know my father just sweet and gentleman and he seemed to love me so i grew up with that
39:56for victoria principal andy's death left something unfinished between them they never said goodbye never
40:02had a chance for kind words after the heart-wrenching breakup several years after andy died i had a
40:08dream and in that dream andy came to me knowing that i was haunted by this and we sat down and we had
40:17the talk that that i certainly wanted to have and that we probably needed to have and i thought it was so
40:26like andy even after his death to find a way to bring me solace in the last months of andy's life
40:38the gibb brothers reunited to write and record the songs they hoped would propel andy into a comeback
40:44but it was not to be
40:47in this unreleased song arrow through the heart andy sings lyrics that now seem haunting and prophetic
40:52a young man's journey through life and his search for lasting love
41:06this was not an angry um troublesome person this was someone that was very well centered
41:25and loved his family and i think it's that side that we don't remember of artists usually
41:30she was a very very beautiful person and i think that's what we should remember
41:36i ain't flying bird you can never love nobody but i will not lose my dream
41:47birds are the fifth they are never their flow against the sky is beautiful
41:58but an arrow through the heart break over you
42:02stay and your reign is true bring me to my knees again
42:08i'm too young to die
42:12i'm too young to die
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