By coincidence, I had just read that a film Robin Williams had made in Seattle last year opens this weekend. A very gray and sober film called "Greatest Dad," it deals with a father who covers up the fact that his teen son died of autoerotic asphyxiation. In the rainy depression capitol, Seattle, his ploy would go unquestioned. I never dreamed it would be so timely. The news of David
Carradine followed shortly after.
Please know that I have heartfelt sympathy for the family of David Carradine, and know that they’re in pain, needing answers. Still, I fervently hope that they will give up calls to the F.B.I. and the public search for clues of foul play. These actions keep the story front and center, and assure that when one thinks of him – and you will, his solitary and sordid demise will also come to mind.
Michael Hutchens, lead singer of nineties band INXS, died at the height of their popularity, while practicing this, one of the most dangerous of sexual kinks.
According to Wikipedia, most victims are teens or in their early twenties, it’s rare for someone who practices shutting off their air supply for a better orgasm to live a long life. It’s estimated that between 250 – 1,000 people (read males in particular) die practicing this bone headed act in the U.S. each year, exact figures are difficult to find, as many are falsely diagnosed to be suicides, unless there is sexual paraphernalia in the immediate area. That is the age when most humans afflicted with the Y chromosome have the "It will never happen to ME delusion." If any good can come of this tragedy, perhaps it will be to raise awareness, and discourage someone from trying it, for safety reasons, or the possibility of being found in a most undignified, uncool, and very dead situation.
Though Carradine had appeared in over 100 movies, he was perhaps best known for The Seventies TV Series, "Kung Fu" which fit him perfectly, as a martial arts practitioner himself. Carradine was anything but depressed. In fact, at the time of his death, he was very excited to be working in film again. The movie had the extreme misfortune and irony of being titled "Stretch." The following day when further details were revealed about the configuration of the rope, there was little doubt about the cause of his death .
If those facts aren’t convincing enough, his recently divorced ex-wife Marina Anderson, whom he’d wed in 2004, accused the actor of "deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly" as part of her grounds for divorce. Those
are strong words, and leave little to the imagination. Auto Erotic Asphyxias Deadly Thrill Claims David Carradine