Comedian and actor Bernie Mac tragically passed away in 2008, at just 50 years old. For 30 of his 50 years of life, he was married to high school sweetheart Rhonda McCullough, who recalls making one heartbreaking final plea before his tragic death.
Bernie Mac brought laughs around households across the globe as he starred in Hollywood films including Soul Men and Ocean’s Eleven. He also starred in his self-titled comedic TV show, The Bernie Mac Show.
Bernie Mac’s wife’s heartbreaking final plea before his tragic death
Eight years after his death, which was a result of health complications from pneumonia, Rhonda emotionally opened up on the heartbreaking final moments she had with her husband.
“I remember telling him, I said, ‘Please don’t, don’t die,'” she shared in an interview for Oprah’s Where Are They Now on OWN in 2016.
“‘I said, ‘I’m here. I’m waiting for you. I’ll take care of you. Just don’t, don’t die. Don’t die.'”
Rhonda tragically emotionally expressed that her husband’s death “shattered her” as she was with him since she was 16 years old.
“My whole was him since I was 16, and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said. Rhonda was left questioning her purpose, however she found it by continuing her husbands legacy.
The Bernie Mac Foundation, which he started in 2007, a year before his death, was to raise awareness for sarcoidosis, which Mac was diagnosed with in the 1980s.
Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease in which the immune system overreacts, as per the American Lung Association.
Bernie Mac and Rhonda McCollough’s relationship
Like a teen movie, the couple met in 1974 in the high school corridors. Rhonda previously expressed how she couldn’t understand why he was so popular with women.
However, it seems like in the end, she did come to understand, as they wed three years later.
In 1978, the couple had their only daughter, Je’Niece McCullough.
In 2011, the now 65-year-old remarried, as she tied the knot with Horace Gilmore. However, the two live a private life.
Related Topics
MORE CELEBRITY STORIES
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmroaSuwaqwwaKrZ5ufonxzfJFsZmpoX2WBcLnOr6CeZaOprrO%2FjKGgoKBdqLCpu86lZKyvlZrBqbHAq6tmpZGZsm60xJqprZqimq6stc2gZKmklZZ6qbvUq6pmmpWbvLOxjKGcZpyZmrFw