Thanks, everybody, for your input about the Natalie Wood case. I’ve got a call in to the LA County Homicide Division, and I’ll let you know what they say. Won’t it be cool when the courts will take the testimony of the deceased as admissible evidence? One day.
Now, let’s welcome back Mr. Hudson:
Me: So, tell me about your death. What was that like?
Rock: For me, it was—
Jamie: He’s pausing; he’s touching his jaw line and his chin.
Me: Oh, he used to do that all the time.
Jamie: Really?
Me: Um hm!
Jamie: Well, he’s got a great chin. He’s got that chiseled face.
Me: Oh yeah, he sure does.
Rock: My passing was long.
Me: Yeah, he died from AIDS, I think.
Jamie (to Rock): Did you?
Rock: Yes. I want to be very delicate around the topic, but it did take me a long time for my body to finally give in and for me to be taken from it. I searched everywhere for treatment—all over the world. That was my last fight. And then I came back home, and I knew that’s when I needed to give in.
Me: Um hm.
Rock: I wanted to be at my home. I remember being in my home and thinking, ‘Finally, I’m going to get some rest.’ And it’s not that I wanted rest from my family, from my friends, from the public. I could handle them, and I did so. I think I proved that quite well.
Me: Yes, you did.
Rock: But I felt that there was more that I could show people how life can be led so differently and be quite acceptable.
Jamie: He’s showing me kind of lying down, having passed away.
Rock: I had some pain, but I had a lot of drugs. I remember the last thing that I did. I decided if our world didn’t step forward and begin to take care of people like me, that I would have to support it and leave the funds for it.
Jamie: Wow, so he left a significant amount of money for like an AIDS study or research or something.
Me: Oh, I didn’t know that! Good!
Jamie: And the way he’s saying it is that he’s the first person to do this. He’s the first one to set up the idea that we need to look at this.
Rock: What that encouraged in my death was that the government began to look at the need for research as well, and so I feel that’s my living legacy.
Me: Great! Yeah, you’re a groundbreaker in so many ways.
Rock: Thank you.
Me: So, when you crossed over, tell me how that felt and describe your surroundings.
Rock: It was freeing, relaxing. You think that death should have this effort and strength around it like what one needs to climb a steep mountain, but the point of travel between life and death is simply one breath.
Jamie: You have that, right? That was so beautiful.
Me: Yes, I do. That was beautiful indeed. A beautiful line, Rock. Well said. So when you crossed over, what did you see?
Rock: I was by myself, and I think that was important for me, because so much of the later part of my life I could not be by myself. So, I had time to rest, and it was beautiful. It was dark, but there were rich colors surrounding me.
Me: Wow.
Rock: I don’t know how long I was there. I just know this is my first memory of peace. And as easy as one comes sitting up from the bed and rising to their feet, I came out of that loving space and into a place with other people like me. These were people I knew—
Jamie (giggling): He’s laughing.
Rock: I know this isn’t going to sound linear, but there were people I knew but I had not met yet.
Me: That you hadn’t met in—
Rock: In that last lifetime, yes. And there was such an acceptance surrounding it, that I didn’t even question it. It was like one of those dreams you have that feel very real, but you know in the back of your head, ‘This can’t be true!’
Jamie: He does a little giggle.
Jamie and I laugh.
Jamie: Wow, he can have such a little boy side to him!
Me: Oh really? What a charmer. It reminds me of Erik. Erik has that little boy side to him, too.
Jamie (emphatically): Oh yes he does!
Me: Yeah.
Jamie (chuckling): Erik’s laughing!
Here’s a YouTube video of the news report announcing Hudson’s “mysterious illness”:
