Robin Leach of 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous' Dies After Spending Last 10 Months in Hospital
Robin Leach, most famously known for hosting the television show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” passed away on Thursday, Aug. 23.
Before landing his most well-known role in 1984, Leach worked at publications like People Magazine, the New York Daily News and The Daily Mail.
“Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” ran until 1995, giving Leach a long and successful career on the show. But his bubbly, over-the-top persona that viewers enjoyed watching on television was apparently just that — a persona.
In a 1990 interview with The New York Times, Leach talked about the difference between his online personality and his real one.
“The cartoon character, that’s not who Robin Leach is,” he said. “Robin Leach is a guy who, when he has the time, goes quietly to his house in Connecticut and sits looking into the fire with a good glass of red wine in his hand.”
“And when I wake up in the morning, I wink at myself because I like me — I know who I am. And when it’s time to send the cartoon character off, I just send him on his way.”
After the show ended, Leach moved to Las Vegas and continued to cover celebrity events for various news publications. Even though he could have retired and taken it easy after gaining so much fame and a multimillion-dollar fortune, the journalist in him couldn’t be silenced.
“I wanted no other job than to work in newspapers,” he told the Las Vegas Sun in 2011. “I was fascinated by the process of collecting information, talking to people and having the story appear in a paper that would be delivered in your letterbox.”
Leach was only 10 years old when his love for journalism was born. He would send a local newspaper reports of the happenings in his grade school, the Harrow County School for Boys, some of which were actually published.
The paper eventually hired him right after his graduation at the ripe age of 15.
The journalist was hospitalized on Nov. 21 last year after suffering a stroke in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
His death comes just days before his 77th birthday.
“Despite the past 10 months, what a beautiful life he had. Our Dad, Grandpa, Brother, Uncle and friend Robin Leach passed away peacefully last night at 1:50 a.m.,” Leach’s sons, Steven, Gregg, and Rick, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Everyone’s support and love over the past, almost one year, has been incredible and we are so grateful. Memorial arrangements to follow.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Leach’s family as they grieve his passing.
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