On Monday, famed director John Singleton was laid to rest in Los Angeles.
Singleton’s family decided to have a private funeral, which was closed to the public. In a statement, his rep told People magazine the funeral was “a very small, intimate goodbye for family and very close friends” and that it was not open to the public. No media were present.
One of the big names expected to attend the service is Taraji P. Henson, who is skipping the Met Gala. Henson, who was planning to wear Vera Wang, canceled, but received the support of the designer herself. A source told Page Six, “She had Vera’s full support and blessing.”
Before his passing, Taraji and Tyrese Gibson visited Singleton in the hospital. In a post on Instagram, she wrote, “If it were NOT for #JohnSingleton I would not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame He put me in my first feature film #BabyBoy.”
A somber Tyrese was spotted arriving at the funeral among other stars, including Ludacris, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, and Ice Cube.
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Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson recently opened up about how he found out about Singleton’s death, telling Page Six, “I found out John passed when I was in New York during an interview. I thought that he was on life support, and then somebody told me, ‘Sorry for your loss’ — and it threw me off a little bit. It hurts to have to find out out here.”
Singleton’s rep also revealed that his family plans to have a “larger memorial for John in a few weeks to celebrate his life.”
According to his death certificate obtained by TMZ, Singleton died from an acute ischemic stroke. Contributing factors in his death were intracerebral hemorrhage and hypertension.
The certificate also noted that he died on April 28, a day after his family announced that he passed away “peacefully, surrounded by family and friends.”
The paper revealed that he’ll be buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, which is also rapper Nipsey Hussle’s final resting place.
Singleton’s family made the “agonizing” decision to remove him from life support. In a statement obtained by “Extra,” his family said, “We are grateful to his fans, friends and colleagues for the outpouring of love and prayers during this incredibly difficult time. We want to thank all the doctors at Cedars-Sinai for the impeccable care he received.”
Singleton was survived by his mother, Sheila Ward, and his seven children: daughters Justice, Hadar, Cleopatra, Selenesol, Issis, and sons Maasai and Seven.
Last week, Angela Bassett remembered Singleton, who directed her in his Oscar-nominated film “Boyz n the Hood.” She told “Extra” at the Tribeca Film Festival, “My prayers are with his family, his wonderful family, his beautiful children, one that I was working with on ‘911’ recently. I just sat with John about a month ago. That enthusiasm, that vision, that pride that he exhibited that he carried with him always… he was so good to filmmakers, to actors. He really was a collaborator, such a visionary.”
She continued, “I was new to Los Angeles and doing a lot of television… John was a young filmmaker, a couple months out of USC, and he was open to me coming into the audition process. We struck up a vibe and a conversation and just fell in love with him from that moment on.”
The 51-year-old had just come back from Costa Rica when he suffered a stroke at a hospital in Los Angeles. He had checked himself into the hospital after suffering weakness in his leg last month.